A dramatic British Grand Prix in front of the team's home fans saw McLaren add a further three points to its tally. Both drivers narrowly avoided being collected up in any first-lap incidents, although Fernando suffered minor damage to his sidepod and floor after a knock.

Both drivers ran an aggressive strategy and fought hard, Fernando making his way through the pack to finish in P8 after the team took the opportunity to pit both drivers under the second Safety Car.

The team could only do limited work on Stoffel's car during parc ferme conditions after a difficult day yesterday. He drove a solid race despite poor balance and difficult handling to bring the car home in 12th position.

Fernando Alonso: "It was a great race today, and a great show for the fans with a couple of Safety Cars that always mix things up.

"In a normal race, eighth would be great, but with the Safety Car and the yellow [Soft] tyres we decided to put on – and the others who didn't pit – we had a clear tyre advantage at the end of the race, but couldn't capitalise on that because we were stuck behind traffic.

"Kevin [Magnussen] pushed us off the track at Turn Seven, and without that I think we could have probably been fighting with Esteban [Ocon] and Nico [Hulkenberg] for P6. However, no penalty was given so we had to fight back, and overtook Kevin on the last lap.

"We have more points for the team, which is great, but hopefully we can reach that position in the future thanks only to our own performance.

"Saturday seems to be the lowest point of our weekend in terms of performance, but then on Sundays we are in the same group as Renault, Force India and Haas, so we definitely need to find more performance in qualifying."

Stoffel Vandoorne: "It was a very tough race for us, difficult to close up the gap with some of the competitors in front, and disappointing not to come home with points. From the start, I had the same feeling in the car as yesterday, so the conditions out there were really tricky.

"On the positive side, the pace was probably a bit better today. We were able to stay with some of the points-scoring cars like the Force India and the Renault, and were more or less matching their pace.

"The team looked over everything to try to find the cause of the issues we were having, but obviously in parc ferme you can't really change anything unless you want to start from the pit-lane. It's been a tough triple-header, everyone is a bit tired at the end of these three races, so the mechanics deserve a good break. I'm sure they'll check over everything and we'll turn up in better shape in Germany."

Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "It's good to head home after the British Grand Prix with more points. We decided to go for an aggressive strategy on both cars to put the drivers in the best position to fight.

"Fernando put in a great, gritty drive to come home in P8. After a difficult Saturday, Stoffel regained some pace during the race, however he was still dealing with a lot of the same issues, and investigations will continue. Regardless, the focus continues on stepping forward at every event.

"Ultimately, the last part of the race after the Safety Car was very close. Hopefully the fans enjoyed all the on-track action.

"Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the immense effort from the whole team during this tough triple-header. They've all put in many hours of hard work with little rest, and I hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved weekend off before we head to Germany."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone, here.