#GraciasFernando

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Fernando Alonso, leaving collection in his hand and a farewell card signed by Barry from accounts, is speaking to Sky Sports.

"It's going to be a good memory, the whole package in F1 has been a fantastic journey from a very young age to now fighting in any circumstances and in any car.

"I came from a country with no F1 tradition, my father was not a racing driver, so I am very happy with what I have achieved. I will come back maybe one day as a tourist or a commentator."

For the 457th time this weekend, Alonso is then asked if he might come back as a driver. To be honest, he hasn't sounded sure either way with any of his answers.

"I don't know," he says. "I need a break now. I need different challenges. I want to fight for the triple crown. Maybe for 2020 I will feel the need to do a full calendar for something, Indy Car or F1. Maybe I will come back or maybe I will not want to come back."

I think that's a pretty honest answer.

[Question] "Is it true Cyril Abiteboul gave you a squirrel?"

Christian Horner says: "Yes its been on the pitwall with me."

On Max Verstappen's performance, Horner says: "We were supposed to take off the engine safe limits and apparently a couple had been left in there. The water temperature rose which held him back at the start.

"I think Ocon was going to go nowhere near him today. His engine went into safe mode again and Max had to do it again on the next straight."

"Where he's coming from he’s not driving for a championship today he's fighting for a podium it’s a different mindset, it would be like playing in the FA cup final every weekend. Max has all the tools for that."

"He had a horrible start to the year there were a lot of mistakes in the first six races of the year. After Monaco he went away and thought about it and then he came back phenomenally after that.

"Pierre is another talent emerging in the talent like Daniel and Max, but they are big shoes to fill and we are confident he can do that."

On the discussion of Charles Leclerc being the next Ferrari star, Nico Rosberg, 2016 Formula 1 World Champion says: "Vettel had him in his rear view mirrors in the Sauber and he must have been thinking 'man he's in the same car as me next year.'"

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says on Daniel Ricciardo: "I remember when he arrived in Europe in the Red Bull junior team. He's done 100 races with us with seven victories, and 150 grands prix in total.

"He's such a big character we will miss him and we wish him the very best for the future but it's been great to have him in our team.

"He had a really rough second half of the year but they were mostly power unit related which we had no control over, so it's been hugely frustrating for him and the team. Max had similar issues last year as well, and we hope with the change of engine partner it becomes a different story."

So what was the problem with Valtteri Bottas' car? the Mercedes man really slipped down the field over the closing laps.

Team boss Toto Wolff explains to Sky Sports: "We saw something on the rear right, so we changed the tyre as a precaution and then it was a little better."

There's been many great moments of Daniel Ricciardo in 100 grand prixs at Red Bull.

Nico Hulkenberg, the man who was trapped in his car earlier, says: "I'm fine, it's just the normal disappointment in a race."

"Everyone puts so much hard work into it and it's just so bad and very disappointing. I think we just out it down into a racing incident. He locked up, I went wide he went even wider.

"Obviously he was there, our wheels made contact and we've seen the rest which made some spectacular images.

I don't know if the halo blocked me or not and when you're upside down it's not so easy to find all the buttons because everything feels different and it was the first time I'd been in that position. But we might see later."

More from Daniel Ricciardo: "I was a little lonely in the last few laps but third and fourth in the team is solid. Thanks to Red Bull and the whole Red Bull family. I would've loved to drink out of my shoe but… maybe later.

"I’ll close everything off with Red Bull family with a few days in the factory and then start to initially get to know people at Renault and then go home and switch off for a bit.

"It's been a long season so I'm looking forward to going home and to talking to cows and the sheep for a bit where they talk sense."

This year Lewis Hamilton has matched his career best from 2014 with 11 race wins in one season. And is the only driver to gain over 400 points in one season.

Image source, get

And what about next season? Driver changes, rule changes - it's all in the mix. So it could be a thriller, right?

Here' Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports: "Last time, we saw the rule changes as a challenge, and we will do so again. The downforce has been set back by a year or more, but there is a bunch of clever people looking at the regulations and I'm looking forward to seeing if we can get the same speed.

"It was a great fight this season with Ferrari and then Red Bull came into the mix and there were six cars able to win. That's why the [television] ratings increased and people were enjoying the racing."

Daniel Ricciardo, speaking to Sky Sports says: "I'm alright. It wasn’t the most exciting race, just a little bit it was fun. It put me out of reach with the leaders I don’t know if we had much of a choice, we could’ve pitted early and kept track position but it's always hard to know, I think. Lewis pitted early and I didn’t think it would go to the end.

"Our pace advantage was strong at first but we probably just weren’t quick enough.

"My initial thoughts are that I would’ve loved the podium as a whole the whole gear (car) was good and my time here at Red Bull was amazing. And there's a lot of things still to reflect on in the next few hours.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports: "It's nice to win it [the race] like this. We wanted a positive last race, but winning the championship in Brazil was a huge weight off our shoulders.

"It was quite interesting because after winning the drivers' championship, we had a bad weekend and we had a chat and Lewis said it didn't feel so great, and it mattered to him when we won the constructors' title. We are a close team.

"Niki [Lauda] is direct. For him, the season is done and dusted. We will look backwards tonight and have a couple of drinks, and then we will concentrate on next year.

"The backroom team were formidable throughout the year. the bad moments were hard to digest but we learned from them and used them as motivation."

Rajesh: Best 3 drivers of 2018 in the podium.

Rachel T: If you’re not the chosen one at Red Bull, then that’s it but I think they have let the more talented driver go. Very muted congrats from Horner to Danny Ric.

MattNaturist: Bye bye Fernando.. we'll miss you!

Image source, EPA

Sebastian Vettel, runner-up to Hamilton in both the race and the championship: "He's the champion and he deserves to be the champion. It's been a tough year. I tried everything until the last lap.

"He controlled the race at the front. I would have liked it to be a bit more wheel to wheel. We will try to give them more competition next year.

"Well done to Fernando [Alonso]; we will miss him."

Champagne momentpublished at 15:15 Greenwich Mean Time 25 November 2018

15:15 GMT 25 November 2018

Hamilton takes off the top half of his race suit, and gets champagne sprayed over his tattooed body, alongside Mercedes Head of Communications, Bradley Lord.

Image source, Getty Images

Champagne momentpublished at 15:14 Greenwich Mean Time 25 November 2018

15:14 GMT 25 November 2018

It's Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen who are on the podium today to wrap up the season, and they are likely to be our top three drivers competing for the drivers' title next year... what a way to wrap up the season.