Alonso took advantage of a poor pit-stop by Sebastian Vettel to finish ahead of the German and the other Red Bull driver Mark Webber.
The win at Silverstone came on the 60th anniversary of Ferrari's first triumph there and moved Alonso up to third in the Drivers' Championship standings, ahead of McLaren pair Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
However, Red Bull and defending champion Vettel remain well in control of their destiny after the 23-year-old continued his season-long run of finishing either first or second in a race.
Indeed, stretching the record back further, Vettel has finished either first or second in 13 of the last 14 Grand Prix. The exception was in Korea last October when he retired.
For the record, Vettel, on 204 points, now leads team-mate Webber by 80 points at the top of the Drivers' Championship.
And, in another exciting finish, last year's British GP winner Webber was catching Vettel in the closing stages of this year's race.
But the Australian, who made his infamous outburst about being a "number two driver" at Silverstone, was denied a chance of second place once Red Bull imposed team orders going into the last lap to avoid a collision between the pair.
Race winner Alonso now has 112 points with Hamilton and Button both on 109 after a poor weekend for McLaren at their home Grand Prix.
After an unseemly public spat with Red Bull over the use of exhausts to generate downforce, the McLarens were two seconds off the pace in qualifying as Button finished fifth and Hamilton was well down in 10th.
Hamilton responded from the start and drove an excellent race to answer some of his recent critics, at one stage running second.
However, with ten laps to go, Hamilton was asked by his team to conserve fuel and so he had no answer when the two Red Bulls streamed past him.
Nevertheless, the 2008 champion continued to impress by just managing to hold off Ferrari's Felipe Massa in a dramatic last few corners in the battle for fourth.
Hamilton may reflect, though, that it was almost in spite of his team that he gained those 12 points, not because of them, and this race will have done little to diffuse rumours that he would prefer a seat elsewhere.
Button also has a right to be unhappy with his team after a pit-stop cock-up. The 2009 champion was forced to retire at the exit of the pit lane having been released from his second stop without a wheel nut in the front-right tyre.
It was the latest in a long line hard-luck story for Button who has never even appeared on a podium at the British GP in 12 attempts.
And the Frome Flyer must have felt a million miles away from the thrill of winning a race on the very last lap, as he had done in a fantastic drenched and rain-delayed Canadian GP four weeks ago.
Vettel returned to the inconsistencies of last year by running wide and letting Button through in Montreal but, of course, he still finished second.
The German then led the European Grand Prix in Valencia virtually from lights to chequered flag as he further increased his stranglehold on the Championship in the run-up to Silverstone.
Back to the British GP and, like Button, the third home driver in this year's race, Paul di Resta, can blame a pit-stop clanger for his finishing position of a lowly 15th in the Force India.
Scottish F1 rookie di Resta had impressed in qualifying sixth but, on his second stop, he was greeted at the garage with the tyres of his team-mate Adrian Sutil.
The time spent finding and uncovering his own tyres plunged di Resta into the pack and sadly lost him any chance of recording a result worthy of his stunning qualifying performance.
F1 2011 SEASON RESULTS
PODIUMS
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault
Malaysian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Monaco GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Canadian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
British GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus
REMAINING CALENDAR
24 July German GP (Nuerburg)
31 July Hungarian GP (Budapest)
28 August Belgian GP (Spa)
11 September Italian GP (Monza)
25 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
9 October Japanese GP (Suzuka)
16 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
30 October Indian GP (Greater Noida)
13 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Island)
27 November Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo)
F1 2011 STANDINGS
World Drivers' Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 204
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 124
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 112
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 109
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 109
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 52
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 40
8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 34
9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 31
10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 28
11 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 15
12 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 10
13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 9
14 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 8
15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
16 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 4
17 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India-Mercedes 2
Nine drivers have yet to score: (18 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber, 19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus-Renault, 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-Cosworth, 21 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth, 22 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Renault, 23 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Cosworth, 24 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth, 25 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-Cosworth, 26 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-Cosworth).
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault (Aut) 328
2 McLaren-Mercedes (Gbr) 218
3 Ferrari (Ita) 164
4 Mercedes (Ger) 68
5 Renault (Gbr) 65
6 Sauber-Ferrari (Swi) 33
7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Ita) 17
8 Force India-Mercedes (Ind) 12
9 Williams-Cosworth (Gbr) 4
There are three teams (Lotus-Renault (Mal), Virgin-Cosworth (Rus) and HRT-Cosworth (Spa)) which have yet to score.
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