Vettel wins inaugural Abu Dhabi race

Germany's Sebastian Vettel won Formula One's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the first race to start in daylight and end at night, in a Red Bull one-two finish on Sunday.

The 22-year-old German beat Australian Mark Webber by a comfortable 17.8 seconds under the floodlights for his fourth win of the season to make sure of second place overall in the championship.

Britain's Jenson Button, who clinched the title in the previous Brazilian Grand Prix for his championship-winning Brawn GP team, rounded out his season with third place after hunting down Webber and chasing him nose-to-tail in the closing laps.

A mere 0.6 of a second separated the two cars at the chequered flag.

It was Button's first appearance on the podium since Italy last month after a season that started with him winning six of the first seven races.

McLaren's outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton had led from pole position but the Briton's hopes of becoming the first winner in Abu Dhabi vanished after 20 laps when he retired with a brake problem.

'There was a problem with the brakes, I couldn't stop the car,' Hamilton told the BBC. 'I was locking and locking and locking and it was harder than ever to drive the car.

'It's a shame as the car felt so good these last couple of days but we haven't had many brake problems this year so there you go.'

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, likely to move from Brawn to Williams for next year, finished fourth with Germany's Nick Heidfeld fifth in BMW-Sauber's last race before the German manufacturer leaves the sport.

Japanese stand-in Kamui Kobayashi, replacing the injured German Timo Glock, scored his first points in Formula One with sixth place for Toyota ahead of veteran Italian team mate Jarno Trulli in seventh.

After just two races, Kobayashi could also claim to be his country's top driver with Williams' Toyota-backed driver Kazuki Nakajima ending the season with a dismal tally of no points from 17 starts.

Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, a Bahrain resident for much of the year, took the final point for Toro Rosso in eighth place.

The race, against the stunning backdrop of the most lavish circuit in Formula One, was low on thrills or incidents other than Button's determined chase of Webber and Hamilton's unexpected retirement after threatening to run away with victory.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Result:

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 34mins 3.414secs
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:34:21.271
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:34:21.881
4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:34:26.149
5 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:34:29.667
6 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:34:32.757
7 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:34:37.780
8 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:44.708
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:34:49.355
10 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:34:51.594
11 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:34:56.212
12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:34:57.731
13 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:35:03.253
14 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:35:13.014
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:35:37.814
16 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari at 1 Lap
17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India at 1 Lap
18 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault at 1 Lap

Final 2009 Formula One drivers' championship standings:

1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 95pts
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 84
3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 77
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 69.5
5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 49
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 48
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 34.5
8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 32.5
9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 26
10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 24
11 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22
12 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 22
13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 19
14 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 17
15 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 8
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 6
17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 5
18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 3
19 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2

Constructors' championship standings:

1 Brawn GP 172pts
2 Red Bull 153.5
3 McLaren 71
4 Ferrari 70
5 Toyota 59.5
6 BMW Sauber 36
7 Williams 34.5
8 Renault 26
9 Force India 13
10 Scuderia Toro Rosso 8