NONE of the three Formula 1 teams with bases in Oxfordshire came away from the 70th anniversary British Grand Prix in the mood for celebrating.
Enstone’s Renault team were the only ones to score points, courtesy of Esteban Ocon’s eighth place.
But they were ruing a costly spin from teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who finished 14th having started fifth.
The Australian said: “Today was just one of those days where things got progressively worse and worse.
“I lost the rear defending from Carlos (Sainz) and had the spin. The race was done then.”
Ocon though was in a better mood.
The French driver, who gained six places from his qualifying position, said: “We just kept the tyres alive as best we could and managed to keep cars behind, so we’re very happy with the result.”
“I don’t think we could have done much more from 14th on the grid.”
The two Williams cars from Grove were the last to finish, George Russell coming home 18th ahead of Nicholas Latifi.
The former said: “It was difficult for everybody, but that’s how it is in these tricky races sometimes.”
“We have a lot to understand and review, it just wasn’t our day.”
Latifi added: “I think the finishing position is not where we deserve to be, we came into some tyre issues with our rear left, which forced us into a third stop.”
Romain Grosjean was 16th for Banbury’s Haas, while Kevin Magnussen was the only car to retire in a race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Guenther Steiner, the team’s principal, said: “It wasn’t a good afternoon.
“We tried again with our strategy to do different things, but it didn’t work out.”
Next up is the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday.
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