Jenson Button said he thoroughly enjoyed his 'hard but fair' dice with Mark Webber for second place in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The world champion had to be content with third - still only his second podium since June - as Webber fended off all his passing attempts in the closing stages, including some thrilling wheel to wheel moments on the very last lap.
"The last few laps were a lot of fun for me," said Button.
"I couldn't make the move stick - I was very excited about that battle and felt I could pull it off, but Mark's always very difficult to overtake.
"We were clean but on the edge, it was perfect.
"I'm disappointed not to get the second place, but I really enjoyed the fight today.
"Today for me has been a bonus after winning the championship in Brazil and I've really enjoyed driving a car that's been very competitive this weekend."
Button had not been able to keep up with the Red Bulls in the middle of the race, but said his car came alive when he took on soft tyres at his last stop.
"For me the prime tyre was not my favourite - I had a lot of understeer in the car," he explained.
"Then after the second stop I found that I had very good grip with the option tyre, and that's why I was able to close down Mark."
The world champion also had his second side by side dice with impressive rookie Kamui Kobayashi - and this time the Toyota driver came out on top, although he was unable to go fast enough on heavy fuel later in the race to stay in front once all the stops were complete.
"I came out of the pits and the first big stop is turn eight, and when you've got that much fuel on board it's always very difficult to judge your braking point down there," said Button, who had rejoined following his first stop right in front of the lighter Toyota.
"I slightly out-braked myself, locked the rears and the fronts and ran a bit wide, and got passed.
"In reality it didn't make any difference to my race."
Button added that he was proud of his team for not letting up its efforts even after the title battle was settled at Interlagos.
"After Brazil it would have been very easy to enjoy ourselves and not concentrate on Abu Dhabi, but we did and we've come away with a podium, which is a nice way to end the year," he said.