Race
Red Bull dominated the final race of the season, and even a slow pit stop could not stop Vettel from taking his 13th win of the season, equalling Schumacher's 2004 record with his ninth consecutive win. Mark Webber recovered from a slow start to take back second from Fernando Alonso and finish his Formula 1 career with a podium, ahead of a great drive from the Ferrari. Behind the leaders, Jenson Button drove excellently through to fourth place, ahead of Rosberg and teammate Perez. The race was littered with penalties and some great wheel-to-wheel action typical of Brazil, with light rain coming and going through the race to affect tyre performance and give us a decent end to a disappointing season. The Front Runners
For Red Bull it was a perfect 1-2 finish to end the year; Sebastian Vettel didn't make the best start, but used his superior Red Bull to overtake Rosberg by the end of the first lap before romping away to another victory at the front. He was only disrupted by a slow pit stop caused by a late tyre call, but even that couldn't stop him as he was already out of reach. He cruised to his thirteenth win of the season, equalling Schumacher's record from 2004, and his ninth in a row to extend his consecutive record, equalling Alberto Ascari's record over the 1952-1953 seasons. It was another characteristic win to round out the season for the champion. For Mark Webber, it was a step short of where he would have ideally wanted to be, but it was a great final race for him, battling back from another poor start to battle with Fernando Alonso for much of the race and take an excellent second place. He was overcome with emotion and found it difficult to get into the car for the final time, then took his helmet off for the last lap to wave to the fans in a lovely touch. In his 215th and final outing, he took his 42nd podium and 19th career fastest lap, along with third place in the drivers' championship ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Whilst it's clear he's loved F1 and is very proud, he won't miss the circus. Ferrari had something to smile about as Alonso made the podium, even as they missed out on second in the constructors' championship. Ferrari hoped for rain but it failed to materialise and third was the best he could do, overtaking the Mercedes early on and duelling wonderfully with Webber at times throughout the race on his way to the flag. Felipe Massa, in his final race for Ferrari, began so well as he launched up from ninth on the grid to sixth place and then running a long first stint and emerging in fourth place. He was enjoying himself and going strongly ahead of Mercedes and the climbing McLaren's before being handed a drive-through penalty for crossing the white lines on the pit entry. It was a harsh penalty, and Massa was very critical of the stewards after the race as it dropped him down to finish in seventh place, though he didn't want it to cloud his final Ferrari outing in front of his passionate home crowd before moving on to Williams for 2014. Alonso stated he was willing to move over to allow Massa a podium in his last race prior to his penalty, which would have been lovely to see. McLaren were left with smiles, well as many as they've had this year as they enjoyed their best outing of 2013 with Jenson Button coming home for their best result of the year in fourth place. Driving through from P14 on the grid, Jenson started on the harder tyres and had good pace to challenge those ahead and then run longer to gain through the pit stops in the changeable conditions. Perez backed things up with sixth, driving a strong race from P19 after his penalty that saw him have great pace at times, harrying the Mercedes and it was only fuel saving that saw him back off towards the end of the race. Overall it was a good day for McLaren, their best of the year, but a year that they will be keen to forget ahead of 2014 where they will want to return to winning ways. For Perez, it was a key drive that may help secure him a place for next season. Nico Rosberg was unable to challenge the Red Bull's this weekend as he had hoped, despite leading for the first lap after a good start from the front row. They played a more conservative strategy to secure second in the constructors' title, a significant step up from last years' fifth place, as Rosberg battled the McLaren's for the points. His position secured them their finish as Hamilton was penalised and finished in ninth place to take just two points. He raced busily but struggled with pace to match Alonso after Massa was cleared by his penalty, and then clashed with Bottas on lap 47, bursting his right rear tyre and taking the Williams out of the race. It resulted in a drive-through penalty for him that relegated him to the bottom of the top ten, given out debatably since there was clearly no deliberate intent, and was a somewhat disappointing end to his first season with the Mercedes team. Hulkenberg ended the year solidly for Sauber with eighth place after a decent start and then generally good if somewhat lonely race on his own. His pace was hampered by understeer which degraded his front tyres rapidly, but he was still pleased with his result and ended the season tenth in the drivers' championship, the best result of his career and helped Sauber to seventh in the constructors' ahead of Torro Rosso. Torro Rosso enjoyed a last hurrah for the year with a single point from Ricciardo, even as he found the conditions difficult and felt there wasn't great pace in the car. He suffered balance problems and was mugged by both McLaren drivers and Hamilton later in the race, but still managed a point which he was pleased with. With Webber's rapid departure, he is already a Red Bull driver and looks forward to the 2014 season.