Spaniard Alonso had survived the torrential Saturday rain to qualify on pole and he then held off an immediate attack from Webber off the line.
After that, it looked for all the world as if Alonso was going to make it back-to-back wins in the 2012 season as well as enjoying successive Silverstone successes.
But Webber had other ideas, and some great team tactics pulled this battle back in his favour.
For, while Alonso was stuck on the soft compound after the final pit-stop, Webber benefited from the harder tyres as he became only the second multiple Grand Prix winner this season - after Alonso, of course.
This was a particularly sweet victory for the Australian whose previous win at Silverstone was marred by his own perception that his Red Bull team was favouring Sebastian Vettel.
"Not bad for a number two driver," said Webber at the finish in 2010 - but he is now number one in the Red Bull. He leads Vettel by 16 points, though he is still behind Alonso by 13.
Meanwhile, it was a bad weekend all round for the Brits at their home Grand Prix. Jenson Button went into the weekend already 62 points adrift of Alonso but still defiant that he could yet challenge.
When it came to qualifying, though, Button made it his exit in Q1 in a lowly 18th place, though this was adjusted to 16th after grid penalties for Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.
Matters were only a little better for Button's McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton who could manage no better than eighth, two places ahead of Force India's Paul di Resta in 10th.
On race day, Hamilton finished where he started - in eighth - and while Button took advantage of a late slip-up by Nico Hulkenberg to win a single point in 10th, he now has just seven overall from his last six races.
The lack of pace in the McLaren is an issue which both Hamilton and Button were not slow to hide in their post-race comments.
Hamilton said: "We are still in the fight, but unless we find something it's going to be hard to stay in the fight. I raced my heart out as always but we just struggled. We did not have enough speed in general."
Meanwhile, 2009 world champion Button added: "You can see where our weaknesses are. I just don't think we are very quick at the moment. I don't think we did anything wrong with strategy, we just were not quick enough today.
"We need to find some pace. It is not just the Red Bulls and Ferraris who are quicker than us, a lot of cars are. We have a lot to work on."
Nevertheless, at least the McLarens were in the points which is more than can be said for the unfortunate di Resta.
The Scot was the second retirement of the afternoon after just two laps, having spun off the track with a puncture as a result of contact with Lotus's Romain Grosjean.
Later, Sauber's Mexican driver Sergio Perez could sympathise with di Resta after he was forced off the track in a racing incident with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.
Now, Maldonado received a time penalty for his transgressions a fortnight ago in Valencia against Hamilton, and this latest clash saw Perez openly question the Williams driver's validity in F1.
"He doesn't respect other drivers," he said. "I was already in front and he should have given space not to crash but he tried to push me all the way.
"I don't understand why he drives like that and I hope the stewards do something. It is not first time he has damaged my weekend. This guy will never learn if they don't do something."
Most damagingly of all, Perez added about his rival: "He could hurt someone. Everybody has concerns about him."
It certainly seems a long time ago since the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona where Maldonado brilliantly won Williams' first race since 2004.
Now his reputation is right under fire - one of so many sub-texts as the summer break approaches after races at the end of July in Germany and Hungary.
Of course, the main event remains what is shaping up to be a thrilling Championship race. Alonso may still lead the way for Ferrari but there have been seven winners from the first nine races, and the top four are within 37 points of each other.
There are still 11 races left of F1 2012 and so, at this stage, it is still quite frankly anybody's guess who will ultimately prevail in the autumn.
CALENDAR
| Date | TV | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winner | |
| 18 March | Sky | Australian Grand Prix | Hamilton | Button | Button |
| 25 March | Sky | Malaysian Grand Prix | Hamilton | Raikkonen | Alonso |
| 15 April | BBC | Chinese Grand Prix | Rosberg | Kobayashi | Rosberg |
| 22 April | Sky | Bahrain Grand Prix | Vettel | Vettel | Vettel |
| 13 May | BBC | Spanish Grand Prix | Maldonado | Grosjean | Maldonado |
| 27 May | BBC | Monaco Grand Prix | Webber | Perez | Webber |
| 10 June | Sky | Canadian Grand Prix | Vettel | Vettel | Hamilton |
| 24 June | BBC | European Grand Prix | Vettel | Rosberg | Alonso |
| 8 July | BBC | British Grand Prix | Alonso | Raikkonen | Webber |
| 22 July | Sky | German Grand Prix | Alonso | Schumacher | Alonso |
| 29 July | Sky | Hungarian Grand Prix | |||
| 2 September | BBC | Belgian Grand Prix | |||
| 9 September | Sky | Italian Grand Prix | |||
| 23 September | BBC | Singapore Grand Prix | |||
| 7 October | Sky | Japanese Grand Prix | |||
| 14 October | BBC | Korean Grand Prix | |||
| 28 October | Sky | Indian Grand Prix | |||
| 4 November | BBC | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | |||
| 18 November | Sky | United States Grand Prix | |||
| 25 November | BBC | Brazilian Grand Prix |
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
| P | Driver | Team | Points |
| 01 | Fernando Alonso (Spa) | Ferrari | 129 (2 wins) |
| 02 | Mark Webber (Aus) | Red Bull-Renault | 116 (2 wins) |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel (Ger) | Red Bull-Renault | 100 (1 win) |
| 04 | Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) | McLaren-Mercedes | 92 (1 win) |
| 05 | Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) | Lotus-Renault | 83 |
| 06 | Nico Rosberg (Ger) | Mercedes GP | 75 (1 win) |
| 07 | Romain Grosjean (Swi) | Lotus-Renault | 61 |
| 08 | Jenson Button (Gbr) | McLaren-Mercedes | 50 (1 win) |
| 09 | Sergio Perez (Mex) | Sauber-Ferrari | 39 |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado (Ven) | Williams-Renault | 29 (1 win) |
| 11 | Paul di Resta (Gbr) | Force India-Mercedes | 27 |
| 12 | Michael Schumacher (Ger) | Mercedes GP | 23 |
| 13 | Felipe Massa (Brz) | Ferrari | 23 |
| 14 | Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) | Force India-Mercedes | 21 |
| 15 | Bruno Senna (Brz) | Williams-Renault | 18 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) | Force India-Mercedes | 17 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 4 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) | Caterham-Renault | 0 |
| 20 | Vitaly Petrov (Rus) | Caterham-Renault | 0 |
| 21 | Timo Glock (Ger) | Marussia-Cosworth | 0 |
| 22 | Charles Pic (Fra) | Marussia-Cosworth | 0 |
| 23 | Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
| 24 | Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
Constructors' Championship
| P | Team | Points |
| 01 | Red Bull-Renault | 216 (3 wins) |
| 02 | Ferrari | 152 (2 wins) |
| 03 | Lotus-Renault | 144 |
| 04 | McLaren-Mercedes | 142 (2 wins) |
| 05 | Mercedes GP | 98 (1 win) |
| 06 | Sauber-Ferrari | 60 |
| 07 | Williams-Renault | 47 (1 win) |
| 08 | Force India-Mercedes | 44 |
| 09 | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 6 |
| 10 | Caterham-Renault | 0 |
| 11 | Marussia-Cosworth | 0 |
| 12 | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
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