A lights to flag finish for Rosberg at the thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix

The championship battle between Nico Rosberg and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, will continue to brew at the highly anticipated season finale in Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, after the German driver managed to keep the Brit at bay in Brazil.

Hamilton, while carrying the pace to tackle his teammate, had no one to blame but himself after spinning out before his second pit stop. Hamilton locked the rears into Turn 4 and with the under rotation, spun the #44 car around - the second time it has occurred the past weekend.

Regardless, Hamilton was within a second of Rosberg's tail in the final stages of the Grand Prix but any shot of overtaking the calm and composed Rosberg did not materialise and eventually had to settle for a second.

Countryman Felipe Massa took the last podium spot, 39.5 seconds away from Hamilton, after a difficult race which saw him earning a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and arriving in the McLaren pit box by mistake later in the race.

McLaren's Jenson Button finished a strong fourth ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Vettel's teammate Daniel Ricciardo was comfortable to finish within the points until a damaged left front suspension saw him retire on lap 40 - his second time this season.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who has been strongly rumoured to head to McLaren-Honda in 2015, and Kimi Raikkonen finished a decent sixth and seventh respectively after an unusual head-to-head battle in the closing stages. Despite suffering from a bad start, Raikkonen successfully recovered on a two-stop strategy, but his worn tyres were no match for the fresher rubber on Alonso's car #14 and eventually lost his sixth placing to his teammate three laps before the dance of the chequered flags.

Nico Hulkenberg used an alternative three-stop strategy to finish eighth ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, in the McLaren and Williams respectively, after the Finnish driver suffered problems at his pit stops.

The 2014 Formula One season concludes with a high in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight, where all eyes would be on the Mercedes duo. Many are hoping Hamilton will not pull a infamous stunt his role model, Ayrton Senna, did during the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix - where Senna collided with Alain Prost ahead of the first corner. This resulted in both drivers to be put out of the race and allowed Senna to secure his second Drivers' Championship.