Vettel's third career win was largely similar to his first two: he started from pole position, led for the majority of the race and was never seriously challenged.

He pulled clear from the start and delivered a perfectly judged drive to dominate the race at Silverstone.

The 21-year-old came in ahead of Red Bull teammate Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn GP. The victory was Vettel's second this season, and his first on a dry circuit.

"Thank you very much guys, this is a dream coming true. We've von the British Grand Prix," he said over the team radio after taking the checkered flag.

After all the political chicanery over the past three days, the race was a more predictable affair with a huge crowd and a paddock packed with celebrities, who were treated to a demonstration drive by Vettel.

Button maintains lead

Brawn's Jenson Button, who leads the championship, started sixth, but fell 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 back to softer tires. His Brawn struggled with its obligatory stint on the harder rubber compound, with the Briton unable to get enough heat into the tires.

In the end, Button managed a disappointing sixth place and sees his overall advantage trimmed to 23 points over Rubens Barichello.

But despite the setback, Button maintains his comfortable lead in the driver's standings with 64 points from eight races, followed by Barichello on 41 and with Vettel a distant third, on 39 points.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari came in fourth, ahead of German Nico Rosberg for Williams. Button, in sixth, was followed by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and German Timo Glock for Toyota.

ai/dpa/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Kateri Jochum