Fernando Alonso believes there is an alternative reason why McLaren has struggled to compete against Haas and Sauber in 2018, their affiliation with Ferrari.

The British team has slipped to even the second-last team in the pecking order in recent races as their problems with a draggy car also lacking downforce has left them struggling for pace.

Internally, there has been issues too, with Eric Boullier resigning last week as part of an overhaul by CEO Zak Brown, but at the same time, teams like Haas and particularly Sauber have been punching above their weight.

After qualifying at the British GP,  Alonso claimed there were now "three Ferrari teams" on the grid, as Haas enjoy a close technical partnership as do Sauber through Alfa Romeo with three of their cars taking the four midfield placings inside the top 10.

“It’s not simply that Haas and Sauber are ahead of the midfield group,” he told RaceFans. “They benefit, definitely, [from] some of the experience Ferrari has.

“I say that like everyone says that. In Australia, I said something about the Haas and it seems that only Alonso said something about the Haas.”

What he is referring to is the comments many made about similarities between the Haas and the 2017 Ferrari car at the start of the season, with the double world champion then dubbing it a "Ferrari replica".

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Interestingly, despite his claims that those associations are likely hurting McLaren, Alonso actually welcomes the increased competition.

“It’s good for F1 and for them that with the small budgets or fewer resources they are still being competitive,” he said.

“We don’t see the Sauber we saw in the last couple of years. This is more the Sauber we saw with [Sergio] Perez and [Kamui] Kobayashi in 2012.

“Sergio was doing a couple of podiums, I don’t know if this year it will be possible to do a podium or not with the Sauber but definitely they are going in the right direction.”

In the race at Silverstone though, Alonso, ever the opportunist, took advantage of problems around him to move up from P13 on the grid to eighth.

Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly were both left frustrated by stewards decisions they felt went against them during the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

For the McLaren driver, his beef was again with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, the man Alonso accused of trying to hit twice during Friday practice after an altercation through Abbey.

Remarkably, despite what appeared like deliberate actions, the stewards did not take action on that incident and nor did they when the pair came to blows again during the race.

“The incident was at Turn 7 [Luffield], I went around the outside and when I came back to the normal line I was pushed off, into the gravel,” the double world champion explained.

“We’ve been told you have to leave room for the other car but some don’t and nothing happens.

“He fought hard like he always does, and the FIA was a little soft today, in my opinion," he added to ESPN.

“It was fine as in the last lap I could re-overtake him, so in the end there was maybe not a big difference in terms of position, so I’m happy for that, happy with the position, and with getting more points for the team.”

That final position would be P8 for Alonso, meaning he has now scored in seven of the first 10 races despite what is perceived to be a bad year for McLaren.

As for Gasly though, he saw his 10th place taken away by the stewards having been perceived to gain a position over Sergio Perez in the closing laps by hitting a sausage kerb and then making contact with the Force India driver.

The subsequent five-second penalty would drop the Frenchman to 13th and he was not pleased on social media.

“Five sec penalty, ridiculous…” he wrote on Twitter. “Every weekend there are contacts with no further action, that’s part of racing & what makes it exciting!

“[It] was a close battle, I enjoyed it. Just let us race and stop all this bullshit with penalties! Will keep fighting.”

While it may not have been the result he was hoping for, Charles Leclerc believes the potential of Sauber is only enhanced by their performance at the British GP.

The Monegasque was fighting Nico Hulkenberg, who would go on to finish sixth, before a loose wheel at his first pit-stop forced him to retire ending his run of three straight points finishes.

There would be double disappointment for the Swiss team as Marcus Ericsson later crashed out at Abbey, revealing he did not close DRS in time, but still to have made Q3 and be challenging so strongly, pleased Sauber's super-rookie.

“We really thought it would have been a big problem for us this weekend [at Silverstone] and it definitely has not been the case. We are now a bit more comfortable,” Leclerc was quoted by PlanetF1.

“We all are aware it’s above our expectations and we need to keep on the ground and keep working. But, yes, definitely [Sauber can aim higher]."

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Identifying what he considers the key to his and the team's success, with 16 points after 10 races, the 20-year-old puts much of it down to set-up.

“I keep thinking that in terms of pure potential we are still a bit behind, but we are very good at hitting the right balance in the car that makes the car easy to drive and that’s why we manage to get this performance," he explained.

“If the others keep struggling to put their car in the right balance then it might be better for us because we might achieve this, but once they get their car in the right balance we might struggle more.

“Teams have struggled with the warmer conditions here and we have maybe struggled a bit less," he added, "so maybe it’s a combination of things that make us particularly strong this weekend.

“But we need to keep our feet on the ground, keep working because it’s not going to be Q3 every weekend. We will try to push. Hockenheim is a track I really like so hopefully it can be as good a weekend as here.”

Lewis Hamilton has retracted the claims he made of Ferrari using "interesting tactics" following the British Grand Prix and has accepted Kimi Raikkonen's apology.

The Mercedes driver was clearly livid after being hit by the Finn on the opening lap of Sunday's race at Silverstone, although he would still fight back through the field to claim second place behind race winner Sebastian Vettel.

He would storm to the podium straight from parc ferme, bypassing an interview with Martin Brundle, and on Monday, the former McLaren driver turned veteran commentator and pundit revealed what he was told by an FIA official.

“The reason Lewis didn’t talk to me in the Parc Ferme is because he wanted time to go and calm down,” he explained to Sky Sports.

“He was so angry about that [the incident], he didn’t see it as a last-to-second comeback drive, he saw it as somebody torpedoed me off the race track.

“So by the time I came out on the podium, I think he composed himself. I don’t think he wanted to say any words that he’d regret down there.”

Brundle would eventually catch up with Hamilton to speak on the podium, however, despite that assertion of not saying something in the heat of the moment, it was then that the four-time world champion used the "interesting tactics" line citing Vettel's incident with Valtteri Bottas in France.

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Ferrari brushed off the suggestion, with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene expressing disappointment in Mercedes technical director James Allison, formerly of the Scuderia, for also suggesting some kind of intent in Raikkonen's action.

Then on Monday, the 33-year-old changed his point of view in reflection of what took place.

"Kimi said sorry and I accept it and we move on," he said. "It [what happened at Turn 3] was a racing incident and nothing more.

"Sometimes we say dumb s**t and we learn from it."

Raikkonen would be penalised 10 seconds by the stewards in the race, eventually going on to finish third behind Hamilton.

While most of the post-race chatter focussed on Lewis Hamilton's comments about Ferrari, which he has now rescinded, for teammate Valtteri Bottas it was a case of another strategy gamble by Mercedes failing at the British GP.

The Finn capitalised on his teammate's bad start to move up to second at the start behind Sebastian Vettel and would appear to be in a strong position after the first pit-stops, with better tyre life than the four-time world champion on his first stint.

That would allow him to push a little harder initially, but when the German pitted under the first of two rapid Safety Car periods, it was Bottas now the hunted by a driver on fresher rubber.

“I felt that there was definitely a possibility to go to the end,” Bottas said explaining the decision to stay out on Mediums. “Obviously, in practice, I didn’t do any long runs with the Mediums but from our calculations we should have been okay, but it wasn’t."

In the closing laps, the 28-year-old would begin to struggle and at the first sign of vulnerability, Vettel pounced with a move up the inside at Brooklands to re-take the lead.

The situation would only get worse after that as both Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen then also made the same pass, dropping Bottas off the podium.

“Well, afterwards it is quite easy to say yes we should have pitted. At least to keep the position,” he said. “[We] took a risk to be first but ended up fourth so just five laps too much.”

On the fight with Vettel, Valtteri added: “I was really trying everything I could to stay ahead. I had to push like qualifying laps to keep ahead and for sure, then the tyres degrade quicker as well so… I tried my best but it was not enough.”

Sebastian Vettel admits securing victory at the British Grand Prix, a race dominated by local favourite Lewis Hamilton in recent years, was a welcome boost to the Ferrari team.

The German took advantage of a poor start by the Mercedes driver to take the lead into Turn 1 before using his fresh Soft tyres to overhaul Valtteri Bottas at Brooklands in the closing laps to claim his third Silverstone win and the Scuderia's first since 2011.

For Ferrari, it was their engine advantage which proved decisive as they dominated the speed traps down the straights, with the German manufacturer only have the edge in the high-speed turns which were not flat-out.

"We've won on their home ground!" Vettel declared in Italian on the radio after crossing the finish line.

"For us it was important," he told Sky Sports later. "This is a track we've struggled a lot in the past so to come here with something to fight with made a difference. To come out on top is great."

Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene also acknowledged the significance of Ferrari's achievement but claimed Vettel had been the difference maker.

"Today he fought like a lion," he said. "Especially here, because it's not easy. It's the home base of Mercedes, the home base of Red Bull, home base of Williams, so you have to be quite strong at Silverstone.

"Also because the public, and it's absolutely right, they push for Hamilton like in Monza they push for us," he said. "[But] I'm always careful of this sort of thing because maybe in Monza they give us a lesson back!"

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Though it did see Bottas move back ahead at the time, the 31-year-old does think that Mercedes potentially made a second big strategy error in two weekends by not pitting for a second time behind the Safety Car.

"He had a free pit stop and I think I saw the Mercedes crew were ready when I came in, and I was pretty sure then that if we didn't pit they would," he said.

"Ultimately we did the right thing, we had a fresh set of Soft [tyres]. That required me to pass him, but it was fine on track.

"It was a nice battle with Valtteri. I was pushing like crazy. Obviously, I had the advantage on the tyres but it wasn't so easy to find a way through. Then I think I surprised him.

"Wasn't sure I was going to make the corner but I did, so it worked really well, so very very happy."

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he was expecting more interest from Ferrari regarding a possible seat for 2019, as he now looks set to stay at Red Bull.

In recent weeks, speculation has been growing that Sauber driver Charles Leclerc is being lined up to replace Kimi Raikkonen next season, with the Scuderia hinting that the financial impact of having the Australian alongside Sebastian Vettel would be too high.

Given salaries have never really been a problem for Ferrari in the past though, some will wonder if that is cover for Vettel perhaps showing his strength within the team and blocking a move, either way his former Red Bull teammate is surprised.

“I actually thought there would be more interest than there has been from them (Ferrari),” Ricciardo told Motorsport Magazine. “But maybe something has happened or whatever, I don’t know."

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With Mercedes also expected to re-sign Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, with an announcement expected possibly at the company's home race in Germany, that leaves the 29-year-old with only McLaren as an apparent alternative.

“It’s probably safe to say that my options are pretty limited," he acknowledges.

“I don’t think there will be much movement at the top. Mercedes won’t change their drivers and Ferrari, who knows with them?

“I’m obviously leaning toward staying here [at Red Bull] — I expect to have something signed, sealed and delivered by the summer break. It’s definitely getting closer.”

Max Verstappen believed the "tragic" power deficit Red Bull faced to Mercedes and Ferrari was comparable to Formula 1 vs Formula 2 at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Dutchman, along with teammate Daniel Ricciardo, faced a private battle for fifth at Silverstone, this despite Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen colliding on Lap 1 and both dropping down the field.

Such was the speed difference down the straights though, both would easily their make way back through with Safety Cars working in Lewis' favour while Verstappen ultimately failed to keep Kimi at bay.

“It was tragic. On the straights it’s like you are driving in a different series,” he claimed to Dutch TV afterwards.

“I had to manage the tyres the whole way through the race but we were super-slow on the straights anyway, which was just a huge drama.

“I tried to do a one-stop. In the end, I was lucky that there was a Safety Car because that wasn’t going to work.

“After the first Safety Car I made that move on Kimi, which was nice, but it’s just incredibly frustrating how much we are lacking on the straights. It’s a real bummer.”

Eventually, Verstappen's race would be ended a few laps short with what appears to be a brake-by-wire problem as his Red Bull spun suddenly under braking for the Vale chicane.

“We damaged the clutch from that point and therefore the car ended up stuck in gear. A shame because he’d driven a hard race,” team boss Christian Horner added.

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As for Ricciardo, he had a largely uneventful race, as his second pit-stop came just two laps before the first Safety car, and a late attempt to pass the struggling Bottas also came to nothing.

“We didn’t have the legs," he stated. "I could get close, get within a distance but then couldn’t get any closer.

“It started to kill my tyres getting close to him, the grip we had to catch him didn’t stay once we got close.

“It was a bit tricky to follow and if we don’t get the exit on the corner they’ve got quite a few ponies."

Following the high of Haas' best result in Formula 1 a week earlier in Austria, frustration with Romain Grosjean and his number of incidents appears to be growing at the American team.

At the British Grand Prix, the Frenchman would be involved in three collisions, a high-speed shunt into the barrier at Abbey in practice blamed on the DRS, and then two further moments in the race, including contact with teammate Kevin Magnussen at Turn 3 before a race-ending crash with Carlos Sainz.

The first race incident would drop both Haas cars out of the points, having started seventh and eighth, and despite being the one to hit his teammate, Grosjean believes both were at fault.

“At the beginning of the race with Kevin, I think it was a mistake from both of us," he said. “It shouldn’t happen, so we need to work on that to ensure it doesn’t happy anymore.

“That obviously cost us a lot of positions on the first corner.”

Later with Sainz, the former Lotus driver tried a bold move into the near flat-out Copse corner with contact and a trip to the barriers the outcome, again though...

"With Carlos, I haven’t studied the footage, to be fair, [but] it felt like he turned in quite hard on the corner and didn’t give me much room on the inside," Grosjean claimed.

“I tried to go on the brake to avoid a contact, but there was not much room for me to go. It’s a shame.”

The stewards deemed it a racing incident and despite what Romain has perceived as a year of bad luck, with the fourth in Austria his only points of 2018, his boss Guenther Steiner is losing patience.

“I wouldn’t call this bad luck. It’s getting frustrating," he told RaceFans.

“We all hope for him that we are going up and now we are down in the dumps again and we need to get out again.

“We will get out of it, it’s always hard work, but we should put pour hard work into scoring points instead of getting up again."

Asked if there would be a point where enough is enough, the Italian added: “I don’t know where the tipping point is, I’m not there yet. But at some stage, as I said before, we need to stop losing points, that is the tipping point.

“We cannot keep on doing this. We are now through half the season and we must have lost a lot of points because of our own mistakes and this is actually not acceptable.”

Lewis Hamilton & Mercedes have suggested Ferrari are using "interesting tactics" after Kimi Raikkonen touched the Briton on the opening lap at the British Grand Prix.

The local favourite made a bad start from pole and was overtaken by both Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas in the first two corners before the second Ferrari driver locked his front-left approaching Turn 3 and couldn't avoid spinning Hamilton around.

Though he would recover to finish second, thanks to a quick recovery through the field and two Safety Cars, the current world champion was in no mood to talk immediately after the race, storming to the podium instead of conducting an interview in parc ferme, but later would open up on his grievances.

“[It was] interesting tactics, I would say, from their side but we will do what we can to fight them and improve in the next races but I am so grateful for all the support that we had here,” he told the crowd at Silverstone.

“All l would say is that it’s two races in which a Ferrari has taken out a Mercedes. Valtteri and I have both lost out in those situations."

Though initially Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff declared it a "racing incident", he admits some within the team are also left with reservations.

“In [technical director] James Allison’s words, ‘do you think it is deliberate or incompetence?’," he told Sky Sports. "So this leaves us with a judgement.”

Ferrari, however, were quick to respond, with Vettel appearing surprised the idea of any intention was even been considered.

“It’s quite silly to think that anything that happened was deliberate,” said the championship leader. “I, at least, would struggle to be that precise and take somebody out.

“In France, I lost my wing, so I screwed my race. I think it’s easy to attack and have a great move and easy to have an incident.

“I only saw it briefly but I don’t think there was any intention and I find it a bit unnecessary to even go there.”

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Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was equally as shocked to hear a former Scuderia member suggest there was any malice to what occurred.

“Who is incompetent? Kimi? Who is he to judge what the drivers are doing in the car?” he told Sky Italia. “If he really said something like that, he should be ashamed!

“Allison worked at Maranello for many years, but now we are here in England teaching him to be a gentleman.

“I accept it from [TV pundit] Jacques Villeneuve because he was a driver. But this guy?”