JOIN USVettel, Webber hit bulls-eye
The 22-year-old German beat Australian team mate Mark Webber by 17.8 seconds under the Yas Marina floodlights to become the first winner in the oil-rich emirate and cement second place in the championship.
"The priority was to secure second place and we succeeded," said Vettel, still sweating with exertion after the sport's first day-to-night race. "To do it with a win is the best."
While Vettel chalked up his fourth victory of the season, Red Bull completed a hat-trick -- having won the previous two races in Japan and Brazil -- and their fourth one-two after starting the year without ever having stood on top of the podium.
Britain's Jenson Button, who clinched the title in the previous Brazilian Grand Prix for his championship-winning Brawn GP team, rounded off 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 a great race, I really enjoyed it," said Button. "This race was a bonus for me. I came here to enjoy myself, which is exactly what I did."
Hamilton retires
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 for a team that emerged at the 11th hour from the remains of departing Honda.
The Briton ended the season with 95 points to Vettel's 84, an unthinkable outcome at the end of last year when he ended the campaign with just three points after McLaren and Ferrari battled for supremacy.
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.
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.
Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, a Bahrain resident for much of the year, took the final point for Toro Rosso in eighth place.
McLaren secured third place overall in the constructors' standings, one point ahead of Ferrari but well behind champions Brawn and Red Bull. Toyota were fifth while BMW-Sauber leapfrogged Williams for sixth place.
Sutil finishes 15th
Force India drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil finished 15th and 17th, respectively, as the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit ended the Formula One season on 13 points, ending the season at ninth.
Fisichella had won eight points for Force India by finishing second at Belgian GP on August 30 before leaving for Ferrari. Sutil added five points at the Italian GP at Monza on September 13 by finishing fourth.
Agencies
Overall standings: Drivers: Jenson Button (95 points) 1; Sebastian Vettel (84) 2; Rubens Barrichello (77) 3; Mark Webber (69.5) 4; Lewis Hamilton (49) 5; Kimi Raikkonen (48) 6; Nico Rosberg (34.5) 7; Jarno Trulli (32.5) 8; Fernando Alonso (26) 9; Timo Glock (24) 10; Felipe Massa (22) 11; Heikki Kovalainen (22) 12; Nick Heidfeld (19) 13; Robert Kubica (17) 14; Giancarlo Fisichella (8, Fisichella scored eight points for Force India before joining Ferrari) 15; Sebastien Buemi (6) 16; Adrian Sutil (5) 17; Kamui Kobayashi (3) 18; Sebastien Bourdais (2) 19.
Constructors: Brawn (172 points) 1; RedBull (153.5) 2; McLaren (71) 3; Ferrari (70) 4; Toyota (59.5) 5; BMW Sauber (36) 6; Williams (34.5) 7; Renault (26) 8; Force India (13) 9; Toro Rosso (8) 10.