F1: "Not bad for a number two."

The new Silverstone layout looks, on paper, pretty dull for car racing. The corners, designed to make MotoGP bike flick from side to side, are simply wrong for F1.

Or so, it appeared, even after the GP2 races this weekend.

But Formula One is turning into a spectator sport of the first order. Soccer? Nuts: more people were in the Silverstone circuit for this race than will be in any soccer stadium anywhere in the world - and that includes for tonight's World Cup Final.

And if anyone wants 90 minutes of sheer excitement, it was on the Silverstone tarmac this afternoon.

Well, some of it was on the tarmac, some was in the run-off areas, some in the grass and some in dusty areas of indeterminate provenance.

The result, Vettel finishing seventh, Button fourth, Alonso and Massa somewhere down amongst the dead men does not do justice to the spectacular and sometimes brutal racing that F1 delivered today.

Wheel banging was so common it became no surprise. Minute after minute cars battled literally wheel to wheel. Punctures abounded as cars rubbed against each other's tyres and wings.

Ferrari's handling turned out to be rubbish in race trim; McLaren's, terrible in practice, turned out to be just right in the race.

Hamilton gave chase to Webber and almost appeared to keep up: but Webber was, simply, too strong.

Rubens Barrichello worked some kind of magic to bring his Williams home in 5th - someone no one expected. Button came up from 14th to fourth then spend the last 13 laps a second behind Rosberg, inexplicably unable to catch and pass him.

Schumacher drove a poor race: it is beginning to look as if the midfield is his natural home.

The new teams got trounced - but that was always going to happen on a track with such high-speed crushing into tight twiddly bits: they don't have the aero or mechanical grip to compete.

Alonso was awarded a drive through penalty that he had to serve after a safety car period - the result was, as in several previous races, delayed. But he should have known that his bruising battle with Kubica - which led to the Spaniard taking a short-cut and gaining a place - should have resulted in giving back the place. But he argued: he said it was Kubica's fault. Eventually, the stewards decided in Kubica's favour and Alonso's penalty dropped him right back to last.

He and Vettel both drove stunning come-back races - but both of them found that their cars are not as superior to the mid-field as they thought and as qualifying had led them to believe. Both had long term battles with Force India cars.

Webber was totally out of sorts: new front wings, thought to be worth more than a tenth of a second, had been brought. Vettel had a problem with his, so the team grabbed the new wing off Webber and gave it to Vettel. Before the race, both hinted that it was due to differences in preferred set up but, as he congratulated his team, Webber gave the game away. "Not bad for a number two driver," he said. The response from his pit? "Maybe we'll see a smile, now."

It's been a long time since Webber smiled. But today, on merit, he has every reason to do so.