THE BIG PICTURE: Good thing the championship didn't come down to this race as the final event. Good thing this race will not be the finale next season.

TRACK: Must be nice to have oil money.

EVENT: No matter how much money flowed through this event, we'll still take Interlagos, Silverstone, Spa, and Monza over Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Bahrain any day of the week.

QUALIFYING: Lewis Hamilton and McLaren made an early statement for next year.

RACE: A typical Tilke designed track type of race. I.E., boooooorrrrrrrring.

START: Another relatively clean start thanks to a nice wide open track.

VETTEL: Ended the season as strongly as Button started it. However, Sebastian made many more mistakes than the champion.

WEBBER: Unless his teammate is off the mark, Mark has no chance of beating him.

RED BULL: This not too long ago backmarker is firmly a frontrunner now.

BUTTON: Thank goodness Jenson was able to get racy again with his championship secured as his last laps battle with Webber provided the only excitement of the race.

BARRICHELLO: With all the bravado talk from Rubens, in the end he was unable to even grab second in the championship.

BRAWN GP: Not necessarily the icing on the cake they wanted, but they are still celebrating.

HEIDFELD: A strong statement by Nick while trying to secure some 2010 employment.

KOBAYASHI: Once again, Kamui must be making Glock very, very nervous.

TRULLI: Or is Jarno the one on Toyota who has to be nervous of his late season teammate?

RAIKKONEN: Not surprisingly, Kimi puts in a non inspiring performance for his final time in a Ferrari.

FERRARI: Their big battle for third place in the constructors standings with arch nemesis McLaren turned out to be a complete dud as neither scored a point in the finale.

ALONSO: Even Fernando couldn't get a falling Renault to do go fast.

GROSJEAN: While Romain was simply lost at Renault.

FISICHELLA: The embarrassment is finally over.

HAMILTON: He probably would not have won the race anyway, but Lewis' departure took any tension out of it.

ALGUERSUARI: They got rid of Bourdais for this guy?

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Lavish.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: $ -- Whatever amount you want to guess this facility cost.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: After two thrilling seasons in the championship fight, the final point differential is double digits (11) for the first time since 2006 when Alonso defeated Michael Schumacher, 134-121.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: The exchange between Vettel and Button during the post race press conference when Vettel said, "It's a shame now the season ends--" whereupon Button quickly interjected, "I'm happy," which prompted Vettel to come back with, "I know why."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Hamilton nails it: "It's called character, the history of the place. Money can't buy it."

SCHEDULE: Looking forward to North America's return to the 2010 calendar.

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