Prayers for rain unanswered as Vettel hits cloud nine

Drivers line up at the exit of the pit before the rain delayed qualifying sessions

Wet weather tyres were the order of the day in Friday practice and qualifying on Saturday for the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix after torrential rain hit Interlagos, Sao Paulo

Cut into a hillside, the natural layout of Interlagos provides fans with superb views, including Sao Paulo as a backdrop. More than 50% of the circuit can be seen from the 65,000 capacity grandstands

The Brazilian Grand Prix marked the end of a 19-race season which meant it was time of the obligatory end-of-season photo with the 'Class of 2013'. Heikki Kovalainen (far right, middle) stood in for Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus, who is recovering from back surgery

It's the end of an era at Ferrari as Felipe Massa leaves the team after eight years. The Brazilian wore a special helmet in his final race for the team, which was on home soil and at the venue where he narrowly missed out on the 2008 world title

Lewis Hamilton, completing his first season with Mercedes, had a special helmet for the race at Interlagos, too. The Briton's featured an image of Christ the Redeemer and the Brazilian flag

Running an impressive fourth early on, Massa was handed a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line on the pit entry before fighting back to seventh place. Despite the disappointment, the Brazilian still celebrated with some doughnut spins

Sebastian Vettel did a few now trademark doughnut spins, too, in his Red Bull after winning a record ninth successive grand prix, to equal Alberto Ascari's achievement, with victory in Brazil

But the weekend belonged to Red Bull's Mark Webber, who took off his helmet on the slowing down lap to wave to fans after finishing second in his final Formula 1 race

Webber leaves the sport with nine wins, 42 podiums and 13 pole positions from 215 starts. The Australian will race for Porsche in sportscars next year

The season belonged to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, the team and driver winning their respective titles for the fourth successive year. Can anyone beat them in 2014?

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