Mark Webber's Brazilian Grand Prix victory looked like an early Christmas present

IT was almost a merciful release for the two drivers so thoroughly eclipsed by their teammates over the longest F1 season.

IT was almost a merciful release for the two drivers so thoroughly eclipsed by their teammates over the longest season in the modern era of Formula One.

Mark Webber won the Brazilian Grand Prix yesterday (AEDT), his first victory since August last year, his first in 26 grands prix and the first since he had seen Sebastian Vettel, his teammate, crowned world champion twice.

And how it had hurt. Webber has kept his counsel as he has watched the young tyro on the other side of the Red Bull garage winning for fun, but there was no disguising the sheer relief as he digested a feeling he thought he had forgotten _ even if this win was an early Christmas gift from a rampant Vettel.

The German suffered a gearbox problem early on the sweeping Interlagos circuit and simply moved over with the race not halfway through so that the Australian could have a clear run to the chequered flag.

Even though Vettel was instructed to nurse his ailing gearbox, he was still able to match Webber's times for much of the race, leading many observers to wonder whether this was little more than a conveniently contrived problem to allow the Australian to taste some of the glory of another epic season for the Red Bull team.

The team insisted that was not the case and Vettel was as relaxed about moving over as a man can be who has won two world titles on the bounce, notched up a record 15 pole positions this season _ including at Interlagos _ and won 11 races.

It was clearly a bad day for gearboxes because the same fault plagued Lewis Hamilton into an early retirement. Not that it had been much of a day anyway for Hertfordshire's finest, in a season that was eminently forgettable by his high standards. There were three victories this year, including Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago.

And all the while he had to watch Jenson Button, Formula One's Mr Consistency, notching up podium place after podium place as he became the first teammate to beat Hamilton, finishing a worthy second in the World Championship into the bargain.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate rescued third place behind the twin Red Bulls, enjoying their third one-two finish of the season with another of those sterling drives from the Button manual: flawless, consistent and determined. That was eight podium finishes in nine races for Button, 12 for the season, including three wins; Hamilton, by contrast, has notched up just half a dozen, including his three victories.

As Hamilton's car finally faltered after 48 laps and he nosed his shining, silver McLaren over towards the safety of what passes for a lay-by in Formula One, he must have felt some relief at last that this arduous season was over. He clambered out to reveal he is looking forward to pancakes and bacon in the impending off-season and summed up the frustrations and upheavals of his year in one neat sentence.

"Apologies to the team for any mishaps that have occurred this season and know that I will be strong next year," he said.

The happiest faces were at Team Lotus. Finishing the season as the 10th-best team might not sound much but it is worth a fortune _ an estimated 21 million pounds in prizemoney, not exactly a bad day's haul in Brazil.

THE TIMES