Fernando Alonso has won the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone for Ferrari, taking advantage of a slight delay in Sebastian Vettel’s pit stop. Mark Webber was instructed by his team not to endanger the 2, 3 finish of Red Bull by trying to pass Vettel in the closing laps.
The race was the first at the revamped Silverstone circuit in the UK and saw a mass of tyre changes during lunchtime rain.
Lewis Hamilton managed to find the right side of the line between an aggressive drive and a collision, displaying aggressive overtakes and keeping a clean fight with only minor contact with Felipe Massa during a dramatic final tussle for fourth place. Hamilton took the extra points in front of the home crowd by just 0.24 seconds. The place went some way to making up for a disappointment with the other McLaren. Jenson Button had to retire after leaving the pits too soon without a wheel nut.
Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:28:41.20 | 3 | 25 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | +16.5 secs | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | +16.9 secs | 1 | 15 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | +28.9 secs | 10 | 12 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | +29.0 secs | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | +60.6 secs | 9 | 8 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | +65.5 secs | 12 | 6 |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | +75.5 secs | 16 | 4 |
| 9 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | +77.9 secs | 13 | 2 |
| 10 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | +79.1 secs | 18 | 1 |
| 11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | +79.7 secs | 11 | |
| 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | +80.6 secs | 14 | |
| 13 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | +1 Lap | 15 | |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | +1 Lap | 7 | |
| 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | +1 Lap | 6 | |
| 16 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | +2 Laps | 20 | |
| 17 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | +2 Laps | 22 | |
| 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | +2 Laps | 23 | |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | +3 Laps | 24 | |
| Ret | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | Wheel nut | 5 | |
| Ret | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | +27 Laps | 19 | |
| Ret | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | +29 Laps | 8 | |
| Ret | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | Oil leak | 21 | |
| Ret | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | Gearbox | 17 |