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SILVERSTONE: Germany’s Sebastian Vettel ran away with the British Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two while championship leader Jenson Button struggled at home in sixth place yesterday.

Australian Mark Webber finished runner-up, 15.1s behind the 21-year-old, with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in third place for Brawn GP.

Britain’s Button, winner of six of the first seven races, had his overall lead over Barrichello trimmed to 23 points after finishing off the podium for the first time this year.

The dominant victory, from pole position in a race low on incident, was Vettel’s second of the season and third of his Formula One career.

The German, who also led Red Bull to a one-two in China in April, is now 25 points adrift of Button with nine races remaining.

“Thank you very much guys, this is a dream coming true. We’ve won the British Grand Prix,” he said over the team radio after taking the chequered flag.

“It is only my second time here but I enjoyed it so much,” added the youngster who also led Red Bull to a one-two in China in April.

“This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first Grands Prix at Silverstone in the era of (Britain’s 1992 world champion Nigel) Mansell,” he added later.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fourth, ahead of Germany’s Nico Rosberg for Williams.

“I put a lot of effort in the race and if I am honest I must say I didn’t expect to finish fourth,” said Massa. “It was a great result.”

Italy’s Jarno Trulli was seventh for Toyota, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen taking the last point in a race billed as a farewell to the track that hosted the first Formula One championship race in 1950.

Red Bull’s superiority over the Mercedes-powered Brawn was underlined by Vettel lapping more than a second a lap faster than his rivals in the early stages, despite being heavier on fuel, and finishing 41.1s ahead of Barrichello.

“I don’t think we could have beaten them today,” said Brawn owner Ross Brawn.

Button, who had struggled all weekend for grip and to get heat into his tyres, started sixth but had fallen to ninth after the opening lap.

He worked himself back into the points and then made up two places at his second pitstop, when he switched to softer tyres and chased Rosberg all the way to the finish.

McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton, who won by a massive 68 seconds in the wet last year, finished 16th – the Briton’s fourth race in a row out of the points.

Donington Park is due to host the British Grand Prix next year, although Formula One supre­mo Bernie Ecclestone has said it will return to Silverstone if that circuit is not ready. — Reuters