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Yuki Tsunoda cut a downbeat figure following the British Grand Prix, describing his pace as “outstandingly slow” in the wet/dry conditions en route to 15th position.

Tsunoda showed some much-needed promise during Qualifying at Silverstone, with the Japanese driver pushing for a Q3 spot until a power issue hampered his final run and left him just outside the cut.

Starting the race from 11th, Tsunoda was hopeful of being in points contention amid the changeable weather, only to struggle throughout and eventually cross the line as the final finisher – a lap down on winner Lando Norris.

Tsunoda’s afternoon included a clash with Haas rookie Ollie Bearman, which earned him a 10-second penalty and added insult to injury.

“I mean, it’s quite clear with that collision,” he said afterwards. “Other than that, to be honest the pace was sadly very slow.

“When it comes to the long run, it’s something that always is very outstandingly slow somehow. Just ‘degging’ [the tyres] like crazy – I never had like this kind of feeling.

“I know we were running quite low downforce, but to be honest I had still good confidence in the rain. The rain pace was absolutely nowhere, so I’m a bit lost.”

Asked what he can take from the weekend, given his apparent progress before the race, Tsunoda added: “Yeah, a couple of positives from the dry conditions. On one lap it was pretty good, but yeah, the long run is something to look at more.”

In the other Red Bull, Max Verstappen started from pole position and came away with a fifth-place finish, having lost ground with a spin when a mid-race Safety Car period ended.

George Russell was left to rue a British Grand Prix where “everything went wrong at every single point”, as Mercedes had a race to forget at Silverstone.

The Briton came home in 10th place on Sunday, having started fourth, as the Silver Arrows’ gambles failed to pay off in a Grand Prix that saw a mid-race rain shower, two Virtual Safety Car periods and two full Safety Cars.

The first crucial call that backfired occurred before the lights had even gone out – Russell one of five drivers to pit at the end of the Formation Lap for slick tyres. But thanks to a first lap crash involving Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, an immediate VSC period was called and that hampered Russell’s attempts to keep his hard tyres up to temperature.

The Briton did start to make some progress back through the field as the rain fell, his Mercedes looking well balanced in the wet conditions, but then came a second call to move back to the hard tyre again as the track dried.

With Fernando Alonso having pitted for slicks half a lap before, it became apparent that Alonso was struggling and soon Russell was also in a similar position.

Once again he could not get the C2 rubber up to temperature and spun off into the gravel – fortunately keeping clear of the barriers. In the end he did hold onto P10 at the flag, which was a small consolation from a very disappointing Grand Prix.

“Everything just went wrong at every single point to be honest,” Russell explained. “I feel at the beginning, pitting to slicks was not a stupid decision as we knew it was going to be dry for 25 minutes.

“But we had 15 minutes’ worth of [Virtual] Safety Car and that didn’t allow us to warm the tyres, it didn’t allow us to [utilise] the gains of when it was dry. By the end of that stint, we were five seconds a lap faster than the wet runners.

“Then at the end maybe I called to pit one or two laps early, but I wasn’t expecting the hard tyre and of course then it all just went wrong. Really disappointing day, if you play it safe, you’ll come home with a safe result and that’s not really what we were going for.”

Despite having a new set of mediums, Mercedes didn’t fit those or any of the softs onto Russell’s car – which Lance Stroll used to good effect in the early stages of the race. And, as Nico Hulkenberg showed with his run from P19 to third, there were big points available to anyone who made the right calls in a dramatic race.

“I think at the beginning with the information we had, it was totally justifiable but the call at the end was not right, that’s on me,” Russell concluded.

“If you have a fast car, you can afford to do what you want, and you’ll always find yourself in a good position. At the moment unfortunately we don’t have that luxury.”

While Russell did at least see the chequered flag, the same couldn’t be said for his team mate as Kimi Antonelli was rear-ended by the Racing Bulls car of Isack Hadjar when the visibility was at its worst midway through the race. Although Antonelli was able to limp back to the pits, the damage was too great and he retired the car.

“I mean the whole diffuser was gone so it was pretty undriveable the car, it was a shame,” the teenager said.

“I was just a passenger but I think Isack, he was also a passenger because he couldn’t see until he was into my back. So yeah, just a shame to have ended with another DNF.”