F1: Force is with Paul di Resta as he eclipses rest of Brits at the Spanish Grand Prix

Di Resta finished seventh

Fernando Alonso gets ahead of Lewis Hamilton on the first lap (Reuters)

Once again Paul di Resta was the best-placed Briton after bringing his Force India home in a solid seventh place, less than a second behind Nico Rosberg.

The Scot prefers to do his talking on the track, and so far this year that loquacity has reaped a fourth, a seventh and two eighth-place finishes. Just the sort of point you’d want to make if you felt you had been passed over for the second McLaren seat last year.

“We said before the race that seventh would be a good result and I was even fighting for sixth,” he said. “So we can take a lot of positives because this is a track that has traditionally not suited our car. The result shows the consistency that we have had since the start of the year and that we can perform each weekend.

“There’s more to come, too, because there is more we can do to optimise the car with the new parts we introduced here. This is definitely a big result for us.”

Further back, Jenson Button led home team-mate Sergio Perez in a race that lifted spirits at McLaren after a bruising weekend in which their updated car failed to show an improvement in performance.

The Englishman completed the opening lap in 17th place after starting 14th, but fought his way up the field with a three-stop strategy to take eighth place ahead of four-stopping Perez.

“My start wasn’t great,” Button admitted. “I had no grip. But to finish eighth shows what a good job the team did changing my strategy. We certainly beat some cars that we possibly shouldn’t have beaten.

“There’s still a lot of work to do. It’s tough at the moment, but I’m pleased that we’re making the best of what we have.”