Button under the weather at Silverstone

By Neil Maidment

SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) - Championship leader Jenson Button blamed cool weather for his disappointing sixth-place finish in Sunday's Formula One British Grand Prix.

"(Red Bull) were much quicker than us because it was absolutely freezing this weekend," the Brawn GP driver told reporters.

"The sun didn't come out until after the race, thanks British weather!"

The temperature at Silverstone was around 23 degrees Celsius (73 Fahrenheit), considerably cooler than the venues at which Button has won six of this year's eight races, which included Turkey and Bahrain.

The 29-year-old gave British fans little hope of a Button victory on home soil after qualifying sixth on Saturday and any leftover optimism for the race quickly diminished when his poor start left him fighting from ninth.

"We struggled all weekend with tyre temperatures, getting them in the working range because it is so cold here," he said.

"If you don't get the tyres on the working range, it doesn't matter what car you've got it just doesn't work. So that was my problem here."

German Sebastian Vettel, driving the rapid Red Bull, took advantage of Button's problems to deservedly take victory, qualifying on pole to set up a comfortable race win.

Button's championship lead has been trimmed to 23 points ahead of team mate Rubens Barrichello, who finished third. Vettel is 25 points behind in third.