Felipe Massa put in a fantastic drive at Silverstone to finish the British Grand Prix in fourth place on Sunday afternoon, quite an achievement from eleventh on the starting grid. His Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, picked up the final point for eighth place, having started ninth. Possibly because of the slightly warmer conditions, the F60 performed better than it did on Saturday and better than expected.

As the lights went out, the top three were in grid order, while Trulli dropped four places, Alonso was also slow away and Kimi had a minor moment, going off the track. On the second lap, Felipe was passed by Button for eighth place. When Vettel pitted on lap 21, this temporarily promoted Felipe to the lead. The Brazilian was the last of the lead group to refuel, which proved to be a good strategic call, as he rejoined in a promising sixth place.

By lap 30, Felipe had moved up to fifth behind Rosberg, with Kimi seventh ahead of Button. On lap 42 a three way battle developed for third place between Barrichello, Rosberg and Felipe, the three men separated by under two seconds. Kimi was the first to make his second refuelling stop on lap 42, fitting the harder Bridgestone tyres. Three laps later, it was Felipe’s turn to come in for the harder tyres for his final stint to the flag and Massa now gained a place, moving up to fourth ahead of Rosberg.

On lap 49, championship leader Button came in and unlike most of his rivals, he was now on the softer tyres and began lapping quicker than everyone, closing rapidly on Rosberg, but he never managed to get past the Williams.

So after 60 laps. Felipe finished fourth, 3.8 seconds behind his fellow countryman. Fifth was Rosberg, followed by Button and Trulli, with Kimi picking up the final point for eighth place. The result means that while still fourth in the Constructors’ championship, Ferrari has closed the gap to Toyota to 8.5 points, Felipe has moved up from eighth to sixth in the Drivers’ while Kimi stays tenth.