ABU DHABI—RED BULL WILL come back stronger next year after ending the Formula One season on a charge, Sebastian Vettel said after winning Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

With Australian team mate Mark Webber holding off Brawn’s new world champion Jenson Button to anchor the team’s fourth one-two finish in 17 races, Red Bull consolidated their runners-up slots in both championships.

“I think this season was very special,” the 22-year-old German told a news conference after romping to his team’s third win in a row.

Brawn had emerged from the remains of under-performing Honda, who quit the sport in December, with Button and team mate Rubens Barrichello thankful just to have a drive.

Webber was still limping from a cycle accident in Tasmania that left him with a broken right leg and struggling to get back to race fitness.

By Sunday night, Vettel had clinched his fourth win of the season while Webber, winner of two races, secured the team’s 16th podium of the campaign. Button was third.

“I’m certainly happy, obviously, off the back of my best season ever,” said the Australian.

“Of course, I would have liked to have had some more points here and there but it could have been a hell of a lot worse for me, so I will take this season, let me tell you.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was equally jubilant.

“That was the most brilliant way to finish the season,” he said. “Both our drivers were supreme today.

“We’ve learned a great deal this year and we’ll come back stronger in 2010.

“Second (overall) is a fantastic achievement for the team.

In many respects the team is still very young and it’s only our fifth season in Formula One,” added the Briton.

No more BMW

As this year’s Formula One season comes to an end, fans can say farewell some familiar sights. There will be no more BMW next season. The German automaker’s F1 program is a victim of the economic downturn, leaving the future of the Swiss-based team in doubt.

Too late the hero

Lewis Hamilton’s late-season surge came far too late to defend his world championship, but the McLaren driver believes his team is primed for a 2010 title shot.

Hamilton had secured a top-three place in either qualifying or a race for seven of the last eight races and can’t wait for next season to begin.

“When you come from a team where for two years you have had a good, competitive car, to the beginning of the year where you had your doubts and you felt the car was just nowhere, and didn’t know when or if it would get better—it’s encouraging for the future,” Hamilton said.

Bridgestone goes as well

Bridgestone Corp. plans to stop supplying tires for Formula One after its contract expires next season. A day after the 2009 F1 season ended in Abu Dhabi, Bridgestone, the Japanese company vying with Michelin SCA of France to be the world’s biggest tiremaker, announced it wants to focus its resources on core tire businesses.

Bridgestone began supplying tires for F1 racing in 1997 and has been the sport’s sole supplier since 2007. Bridgestone said it will not renew the current contract for a tire supply, which expires in late 2010.

Bridgestone joined a list of Japanese companies leaving F1.

Honda Motor Co. pulled out of F1 to cut costs amid a global downturn. In July, Toyota-owned Fuji International Speedway announced it would not host the Japanese F1 Grand Prix from 2010 and beyond amid the faltering global economy. AP