Red Bull racer Sebastian Vettel drove a superb race at the all new state of the art Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi this evening when he crossed the line victorious, securing second place in the drivers championship in the process. Starting from second place on the grid,. The young German star put pressure on pole sitter Lewis Hamilton all the way until the first round of pitstops when he took the lead from the outgoing champion.

Even though Hamilton retired soon afterwards, Vettel was in the lead and there was no looking back! He drove an immaculate race and was thrilled with delivering the perfect way to end the season....

“That was a fantastic race. We had a very good start, it wasn’t good enough to overtake Lewis, but I was surprised I was so close to him. Then, when Lewis was on the long straight, he pushed a button and disappeared ahead, but I was able to stay close,” he explained. “We knew we were a little bit heavier and we were always able to catch him up, especially in the last sector. The car was a dream today. There was a lot of pressure, I nearly went a bit wide in the pit lane entrance during my first stop and then there was the scary exit through the tunnel, but I was on the limit and it was enough to get past Lewis. Unfortunately he then had to retire, but up to that point it was a fantastic race with him.”

“After that I had a little bit of a cushion to Mark and Jenson behind and I was able to pace myself, but the car was fantastic until the end. It worked brilliantly on both tyre compounds and it was a pleasure to sit in the car this evening. To sum up the season, what can I say? I would say up and down, we are currently very strong and have just gained our fourth one-two finish, so congratulations to the team. They have been pushing a lot, working very hard back in the factory. It’s a shame now that the season ends, as we are on a roll! It’s just perfect to finish the season in this way on such a high.”

Meanwhile, teammate Mark Webber made it a one two finish for the Milton Keynes based squad even though it looked as if he may lose second position to Jenson Button in the final laps. The Aussie racer lost quite a bit of time with some difficult traffic just before his final stop and then was struggling a little bit for traction on the option tyre, so Jenson was able to close in. It was a really exciting last lap of the year and Mark did a brilliant job to hang on to second place.

“I made a pretty good start and had a bit of a look on the outside of Sebastian, but I knew I had to get back on the inside and get a good exit, as it was a long run down to Turn five. My car got hit quite hard on the left rear after the first corner and I was worried about a puncture. My race engineer, Ciaron, told me the tyre had enough pressure and I was relieved. It looked like Lewis was struggling a little bit in the first few laps and Sebastian and I were able to get a bit closer to him than we expected,” Mark said.

“Things then started to stabilise and I was pretty happy on the prime tyres. Sebastian was a bit quicker today in the second two race stints, especially the last one. I didn’t have much of a feeling on the option tyre and it was the same for me on Friday. I was quite slow on that and preferred the stability of the prime. Towards the end of the race, Jenson was able to close the gap to me and I thought ‘this is going to be tight’! We knew we had a slight top-speed advantage, but not much and I had to make sure I was accurate with my braking points.”

“We had a good clean fight on the limit and the battle was a credit to how Jenson’s driven all year. I want to congratulate the team on what they have achieved and thank them for their patience with me at the start of the year when I was coming back from my accident. It’s been very enjoyable driving alongside Sebastian this year, Renault has given us a fantastic engine and overall Red Bull can be incredibly proud of what they have done. It’s been my best season to date; we’ve had 16 podiums together; it’s very good.”

The team’s 2009 season saw a total of 6 wins, 16 podium finishes and second place in the championship. Now it is on to 2010 where they hope to move up the ladder to secure their maiden world championship crown!