Red Bull looking energised as Brawn’s strength fades

Vettel was clearly disappointed not to have won in front of his home fans, admitting he effectively lost the race with a driving mistake in qualifying when he was beaten to pole position by the in-form Webber.

But like his team-mate, Vettel remains confident about increasing the pressure on Button in Hungary in a fortnight.

He said: "I'm definitely looking forward to the next race. The car is working well, and the team is working fantastically both at the track and at the factory in England. We will keep pushing hard."

After six wins from the first seven races, Button knows the balance of power has shifted from Brawn GP towards Red Bull. He even had trouble trying to deal with Heikki Kovalainen's resurgent McLaren.

Button said: "It was really frustrating, a difficult race for us in which nothing went right, as at Silverstone. In the first stint I was stuck behind Kovalainen and had nowhere to go. I couldn't get past him.

"Then, in the third stint, I was stuck for a time behind Rubens after he had a problem with his fuel rig at his second stop. The fuel rig problem screwed his race and mine, so finishing fifth is disappointing because I think we could have got a podium."

Barrichello gave vent to his own frustrations in an extraordinary outburst after finishing sixth.

Despite that collision with Webber, the Brazilian led the opening stages of the race. However, he fell back after team chief Ross Brawn elected to put both his cars on three-stop strategies compared to the two stops employed by the leading four finishers. "I'm terribly upset with the way things have gone," said Barrichello (left). "It was a very good show of how to lose a race. I did everything I had to do. I had to go first into the first corner, and that's what I did. Then they [Brawn] made me lose the race, basically. If we keep going on like this, then we'll end up losing both championships, and that would be terrible."

Despite speaking out, Barrichello is likely to escape punishment by Brawn who said: "I think that is a frustrated racing driver. When you put so much into a race and it hasn't worked out, then that is what you get sometimes. In the heat of the moment these things happen. We want to understand the whole picture and what he said but Rubens has been a very important member of the team.

"He stuck with us through very difficult times, he has a lot of loyalty to the team and that is not something that will be destroyed with a few frustrated words after a race."

At least Barrichello scored points. World champion Lewis Hamilton, who had at last looked competitive in qualifying after his McLaren was fitted with a raft of modified parts, finished last after having his hopes of a podium wrecked at the first corner.

A stunning start, aided by a push of the KERS button, saw Hamilton fly into the lead from fifth on the grid, only to sustain a puncture to his right-rear tyre after being clipped by Webber.
Forced into a pit stop at the end of lap one, he eventually crossed the line in a wretched 18th place.