Fernando Alonso content to claim second for Ferrari in British Grand Prix

The Ferrari driver started from pole and stayed in first place until he was passed by Red Bull's Mark Webber with a couple of laps to go, the Australian's pace much stronger than Alonso's.

The Spaniard had to settle for second in the end, but said he was not too disappointed.

"I am happy with second place," said Alonso, the winner of the previous race in Valencia. "Now 10 minutes after having finished and having led the race there is a strange feeling for losing victory.

"I am sure in one hour I will be much happier."

Alonso was encouraged to see Ferrari was strong on a high-speed track like Silverstone, but insisted the team still needs to take a step forward to match Red Bull.

"The car was good in Valencia and here, in a completely different track, it seems to perform very well, so I'm happy with the improvements in the car. We still need that last step to close the gap to these guys. We need to be quicker in some conditions."

The two-time champion saw his championship lead reduced from 20 to 13 points over Webber, but he said it was still a good weekend in terms of points.

"We are still there, that is the main target for us and today we lost seven points to Mark but we gained some extra points on the rest of the field," he said. "So it was good Sunday in terms of the championship."