Sebastian Vettel scored a resounding fourth victory of the 2009 campaign – clinching the runner-up position in the drivers’ championship in the process – in the Abu Dhabi finale, leading home Mark Webber in a Red Bull 1-2.
Dominant polesitter Lewis Hamilton had been expected to cruise to victory in the inaugural Yas Marina race, but it didn’t turn out that way as Vettel shadowed him throughout the opening stint and moved ahead with a later first pit stop.
Hamilton’s challenge was snuffed out when abnormally high rear brake wear forced him to retire the McLaren shortly after his first stop – although Ferrari’s failure to score meant the Woking squad held onto third place in the constructors’ championship.
Webber couldn’t match team-mate Vettel’s pace in the second stint and faded further in the closing stages, allowing a charging Jenson Button to close onto his tail.
Despite some thrilling lunges on the last lap, the new world champion couldn’t quite find a way past – but at least had the satisfaction of a podium finish to cap his triumphant season.
Under the fast fading light at the start of Formula 1's first ever day/night race, Hamilton easily converted pole into an early lead on the short run down to the first corner.
Of the two Red Bulls directly behind, it was Webber who got better getaway from third but, after being squeezed by team-mate Vettel as they swept left, he was hit up the back by a fast oncoming Rubens Barrichello.
The contact was enough to break one of Barrichello’s front-wing endplates, while Webber was fortunate it didn’t slit his left-rear tyre.
Later round the lap and Barrichello was passed by team-mate Button for third and into the clutches of BMW’s Robert Kubica, the Pole having battled past Jarno Trulli at turn 11 after an entertaining duel which started several corners before.
By the end of the first lap Hamilton had pulled 0.4s ahead of Vettel and, a succession of fastest laps later, that advantage was up to 1.6s.
But given the McLaren ace had qualified on pole by a whopping fuel-corrected 0.5s, and was running two laps lighter than Vettel in the first stint, his pace wasn’t as impressive as many expected.
That surprise only increased when Vettel took 0.3s out of Hamilton's lead in the space of two laps.
On lap 10 the race leader responded to increase the gap back up to 1.7s, yet he failed to build any momentum as on the very next tour he ran wide at turn 17 after locking his right-rear brake into the sharp right-hander.
At first it seemed it was simple driver error, but it would soon become clear that it was part of a wider developing problem.
Hamilton’s slip put Vettel right on his tail and although the Briton did manage to get his advantage back up to 1.4s by the time of his first stop on lap 17 it was clear it wasn't going to be enough to keep the German at bay.
Indeed Vettel made certain of the order change by pumping in the race’s fastest lap before setting more personal best times through the first two sectors on his lap 19 in-lap.
But as Vettel trundled down the pit lane, his RBR mechanics suffered a scare when Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, returning to the pits with a gearbox problem, totally lost his bearings and entered the wrong Red Bull pit box, before he was frantically ushered through.
The Spanish teenager's surprise appearance didn't fluster the pit crew, however, and they completed a trouble-free service for Vettel, whose pre-stop hot laps meant he easily assumed the lead when he had navigated the tricky pit exit tunnel.
A lap later and Red Bull had itself a 1-2 as Hamilton’s hopes of going into the winter having laid down a marker for 2010 were dashed.
The Briton had been told over the radio that he might have a rear brake issue and on lap 20 duly McLaren took the decision to retire its car on precautionary grounds, bringing to an end Hamilton’s amazing sequence of 51 races without a mechanical retirement in F1.
Vettel took Lewis's demise as his cue to demonstrate once more how good he is when in control of a race, the German flying away from team-mate Webber, who in turn was easily pulling clear of Button.
The world champion had exited his own first pit stop on lap 17 just ahead of Toyota’s one-stopping rookie Kamui Kobayashi, the man who had frustrated him for so many laps at Interlagos.
This time, however, it was Kobayashi – criticised by Button for his "crazy" defensive moves two weeks ago – who would gain his revenge.
The Japanese got a run on the now heavier Brawn coming onto the long 1.2km straight and moved ahead as Button got on the dust and ran wide under braking.
Now running in third, Kobayashi then demonstrated the consistency, and speed, of a seasoned pro as he brought himself right in contention for a first points finish ahead of his mid-race fuel stop.
With Button unable to make any impression on the leading RBRs in the middle stint, Webber and the dominant Vettel completed their second stops on laps 40 and 42 respectively and appeared set to cruise to RBR’s fourth 1-2 of the season.
However, Button wasn't quite done with his title-winning season yet.
As his BGP001 came back on song in the closing stint the champion started hunting down Webber, the Australian having started struggling badly for grip on his final set of soft tyres.
After charging up to the back of the Red Bull with two laps to go, Button had several half-attempts at a pass on the penultimate lap, before really throwing the kitchen sink at the RBR man in season's final 3.45 miles.
First Button got a great tow on Webber going down the long straight to turn eight, but the canny Aussie positioned his RB5 on the inside and snuffed out Jenson's chances there.
The Brawn driver had another go on the straight down to turn 11 yet Webber again held firm on the inside, before somehow managing to slow his car down without sliding wide on the dirtier line.
It was sensational stuff, but just as Button deserved to cap his title-winning year with one final moment of glory, so Webber fully merited hanging onto second after an expert show of clean defensive driving.
Barrichello eventually finished four seconds adrift of the battling pair in fourth, his chances of beating Button compromised by the downforce lost from his broken wing at the start.
Nick Heidfeld converted a long first stint into an excellent fifth place in BMW’s final race in F1 – enough to move the German manufacturer into sixth place, ahead of Williams, in the constructors’ championship.
Kobayashi's outstanding afternoon culminated in sixth place, the 23-year-old's first F1 points finish at just the second attempt making a strong case for him to be handed a full-time Toyota drive next year.
Team-mate Trulli completed his up-and-down season in a solid seventh place, while Sebastien Buemi rounding off his impressive F1 debut campaign with the final point for Toro Rosso.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix result (55 laps)
1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. WEBBER Red Bull +17.8s
3. BUTTON Brawn +18.4s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn +22.7s
5. HEIDFELD BMW +26.2s
6. KOBAYASHI Toyota +28.3s
7. TRULLI Toyota +34.3s
8. BUEMI Toro Rosso +41.2s
9. ROSBERG Williams +45.9s
10. KUBICA BMW +48.1s
11. KOVALAINEN McLaren +52.7s
12. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +54.3s
13. NAKAJIMA Williams +59.8s
14. ALONSO Renault +69.6s
15. LIUZZI Force India +94.4s
16. FISICHELLA Ferrari +1 lap
17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
18. GROSJEAN Renault +1 lap
19. HAMILTON McLaren +35 laps
20. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +37 laps