The 55-lap race was won by Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel after starting from pole position.

Lewis Hamilton finished second in a McLaren, and teammate Jenson Button completed the podium, in third place.

This event also notably marked the last race for Bridgestone as a tyre supplier in Formula One, since their full time debut in 1997.

[11][12] Sebastian Vettel himself had stated that he would help his teammate win the championship if required,[13] having trailed Mark Webber by seven points heading into the weekend.

[19] Schumacher was only quick enough for eleventh position in the session, marginally slower than his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

The first part ran for 20 minutes and eliminated the cars from qualifying that finished the session 18th or lower.

[17] I'm not rapt to be fifth on the grid, it's disappointing, but there's still a long way to go tomorrow – the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

[25] Kamui Kobayashi was best of the Saubers in 12th, ahead of the German trio of Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hülkenberg, with Vitantonio Liuzzi qualifying 16th.

Vettel retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by Hamilton, with Button moving into third after Alonso made a slow start.

Schumacher spun his Mercedes,[33] which meant he faced the rest of the oncoming field on track and was collected by Liuzzi, causing both drivers to retire on the spot and the safety car to be deployed.

[34] In order to aid any losses that a pit stop may have cost under normal racing conditions, six drivers – Rosberg, Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi and Christian Klien[31] – made pit stops at the end of lap one,[35] and rejoined the circuit between 17th and 22nd.

Webber – who brushed the armco with the right-hand side of his car three laps previously[31][36] – pitted after struggling for grip on the super-soft, option tyres.

That pairing caught up with Petrov towards the end of lap 18, a battle that would go on until the race's conclusion, with the Renault driver having already stopped for tyres.

[31][35] Vettel pitted from the lead on the next lap,[35] and rejoined the circuit comfortably ahead of Hamilton, but in second place behind Button, who had still to stop on track.

Hamilton had filtered back into the race in fifth position, behind Kubica and Kobayashi who were running similar strategies to Button out front.

Despite having nearly 40 laps on the harder tyre, Kubica's pace was still of a substantial level to hold off the advances of Hamilton.

[31] Kubica finally pitted on lap 46 from second place,[35] and came back on track in sixth place, crucially ahead of teammate Petrov, Alonso and Webber; the latter pair seeing their championship chances dwindling with every passing lap.

[38] No further passing attempts were made on track, and thus, Vettel led the race to the end, to take his fifth win of the season.

[6] The McLarens of Hamilton and Button completed the podium ahead of Rosberg, the Renaults of Kubica and Petrov, Alonso and Webber.

Rounding out the points were Alguersuari and Massa, the Ferrari driver having never got ahead of his rival in 40 laps of battling.

I lost a position at the start and then when the first safety car came out Petrov and Rosberg came in so... We saw some problems with the soft tyres, Webber pitted and then we tried to cover from him.

[42]Hamilton praised his team for all their work during the season, stating that "we pushed very hard throughout the year, so a big thank to all the guys back home at the factory for not giving up.