Lewis Hamilton enjoyed one of the high points of his career as he thrilled the Silverstone crowd to win the British Grand Prix on Sunday, but for fellow British drivers David Coulthard and Jenson Button the rain-soaked race was an occasion to forget.
On Thursday, Hamilton, Coulthard and Button joked their way through a light-hearted press conference ahead of their home event, but come Sunday afternoon only one member of that triumvirate was still smiling.
Both Coulthard and Button retired after coming unstuck in the tricky conditions at the Northamptonshire circuit, but for veteran Scot Coulthard the pain of failing to reach the chequered flag in his final British Grand Prix was acutely felt.
The Red Bull Racing driver has confirmed he will retire at the end of the season and was desperate for a good showing this weekend at a race he has won twice.
But the 37-year-old's challenge was over almost as soon as it began, Coulthard at fault as he collected Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel heading into Priory.
"The visibility was incredibly bad, as you can imagine," said Coulthard. "I was very close to Sebastian after Abbey, as he had a wobble coming out of there.
"There was a clear gap down the inside, but unfortunately it was closing as I made the move.
"I'm sorry for him that we made contact and went into the gravel, I'm sorry for Red Bull too, as it was two cars out in one hit.
"I'm extremely disappointed for this to happen at my last British Grand Prix."
Button, meanwhile, was left to rue a "crazy" race that saw him climb from 17th on the starting grid to sit in the points at one stage, but his afternoon quickly unravelled as the weather conditions began to deteriorate.
The Honda driver's charge was compromised by having to queue in the pits behind team-mate Rubens Barrichello when the rains came with renewed vigour on lap 35, while three laps later, as he tried to make to make up the time lost while stationary, the car snapped away through Bridge and his race was over.
To rub salt into Button's wounds, Barrichello went on to pick his way through the ensuing chaos to claim a deserved third place at the flag.
Button said: "It was a crazy race today with the conditions changing all the time.
"We had some good pace on the wet tyres for the first part of the race before the heavy shower which brought both Rubens and I into the pits for extreme wets.
"Shortly after that stop, I hit standing water at Bridge which caused the car to aquaplane off the circuit.
"I tried to spin the car round but there was another car coming so I had to get out of the way, couldn't get the car round far enough and ended up trapped in the gravel.
"There's always a bit of luck involved in this type of race and unfortunately it wasn't my day for luck today."
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