JENSON Button and Lewis Hamilton were swamped with the kind of Brit fever that made Sebastian Vettel wish he was English after a win to savour.

There were no triumphant scenes of patriotic jubilation at the British Grand Prix as witnessed a year ago, when Hamilton swept to a stunning 68-second victory en route to the world title.

There had been expectation from the majority of a sell-out 120,000 Silverstone crowd following Button’s majestic start to the season with six wins from the opening seven races.

History beckoned as only one man throughout the 60 years of Formula One, Michael Schumacher in 2004, had succeeded in winning seven of the first eight grands prix.

But it was not to be as Button was forced to settle for sixth, 46 seconds adrift of Vettel who strolled to the third victory of his career, second this year and first in the dry.

Once on the podium tasting the victory champagne, Vettel was given an ovation from a knowledgeable British crowd that had him questioning his nationality.

‘‘It is only my second time here at Silverstone, but I enjoyed it so much,’’ said Vettel with his characteristically charming smile.

‘‘When I looked left and right in the last two laps the people were standing up and clapping and cheering. It was fantastic.

‘‘The emotions then, and especially as I crossed the chequered flag. I regret a little bit I’m not an Englishman because the fans were fantastic.

‘‘At the time I wanted to wave and say thank you, but then I thought to myself ‘no’.

‘‘There have been stories in the past where it didn’t look so good with drivers doing it.

‘‘So I have to thank now every single person in the grandstands. The atmosphere was great.

‘‘This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first grands prix here at Silverstone in the era of Mansell and so on.

‘‘It is kind of unreal now to think I am here and I have made it. I have won this grand prix, so I am very, very happy.’’ It is the kind of reception Button had also been dreaming of in the build-up to a race he perhaps suspected might not go his way.

Button still has a 23-point lead over Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello, who finished third behind Mark Webber as Red Bull scored their second one-two of the year, with Vettel now 25 points adrift.

It was simply not 29-yearold Button’s weekend, as he predicted following his win in Turkey a fortnight ago.

He knew his winning streak could not continue, and so it proved as he said: ‘‘Hopefully this will be the worst race of the year.

‘‘And after struggling so hard to get three points, in a way this might be an important three points.’’ As Vettel streaked away into the distance from the start, with the 21-year-old a second per lap quicker than Barrichello and Webber, Button found himself boxed in behind Jarno Trulli.

With nowhere to go, Button dropped from his sixth place on the grid to ninth by the end of the first lap, and that was his race done on tyres he could not heat due to the cool British climate.

‘‘Bloody British weather!’’ joked Button, as he cast a cursory glance to the heavens.

‘‘If you don’t get the tyres in the working range, it doesn’t matter what car you’ve got, it doesn’t work, so that was my problem.’’ As for Vettel, he was unassailable, going on to complete the F1 hat-trick, known as the ‘grand chelem’ of pole, race win and fastest lap, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Webber and a remarkable 41 clear of Barrichello.

Although Button closed in on Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Williams’ Nico Rosberg in fourth and fifth, there was no grandstand finish.

As for Hamilton, it was a race of attrition in a McLaren he has now come to accept is simply woeful.

At least he had the fans on their feet at one stage with a move on old adversary Fernando Alonso in his Renault – albeit with the two world champions fighting over 16th place such is how far the mighty have fallen.

There was another raucous cheer at the end on the slow down lap as the 24-year-old performed a donut at Stowe and again at Copse.

Appreciating the support they had given him over the weekend, Hamilton remarked: ‘‘I gave it my all today.

‘‘It’s still a proud day to be able to represent my country, and I want to say a huge thank you to the fans. This is the best weekend.

‘‘It’s been the biggest crowd for a long, long time, and really due to them, all the support, the noise they make, the cheering, that’s helped to carry me through the weekend.

‘‘I hope they know I pushed my hardest and I’ll bring it back to them one day.’’