“It was a fantastic finish. After coming from Brazil we were looking at the possibility of securing the second place in the driver’s championship. It’s good that we achieved it,” said Vettel. “The car was fantastic. It was a pleasure to sit in the car. To sum up the season: up and down. The car is getting quicker — it’s a shame the season is ending.”

After Hamilton retired due to brake problem, Vettel had no challengers as he raced away to victory. “I stayed close enough early on with Lewis. That was the secret, to stay with him. I did enough to get past him. Unfortunately he had to retire, but it was still a fantastic race.”

Looking forward to the next season, the German said: ““It would be very good to continue like that. We have learnt from our mistakes. Now we face a long winter, especially for all us drivers, there’s long break with no testing. Back in England, back in the factory, the guys are pushing very hard. The cars do not change much until next year but you cannot refuel, so it is a bit unknown.” Vettel said that this season was very special. “I remember a couple of years back those two (Mark Webber and Button) were driving and I was watching. Hopefully the next one will be as exciting as this one. I’m definitely looking forward.

“We had a very, very good season, some positive but some things we did wrong. It is not a shame, we just need to know and understand why that happened and come back next year.”

Mark Webber was equally excited about finishing second. “We have an incredible team in the factory and we have done a great job to finish 1-2 here.”

The Australian managed to hold off a late challenge by Button in the closing stages. “Second place was as good as I was going to get today. From the start we had a pretty good launch. I had a look on the outside of Sebastian, but the main aim was to get inside and get a good exit.

“We had a bit of a short fill so Button got to do some good laps on the overfill. I thought it would be quite tight in the end.”

jaiprasad@kahleejtimes.com