Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene believes the "real Sebastian Vettel" was back in the final races of 2018.

The German endured a mixed season with a very strong first half of the year seeing him lead by eight points after the first 10 races.

It all fell apart post-Hockenheim, however, as Lewis Hamilton carried all the momentum and Vettel's challenge faded but the errors which characterised several races did stop in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"In the last few races, we have seen that the real Vettel is back," Arrivabene reportedly told Sky Italia.

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The Italian also looked to put a positive spin on the failures of this past season.

"Every human being goes through ups and downs and it's useless to point fingers at an individual," he said, with Vettel particularly coming under scrutiny.

"We all expected more from ourselves in 2018. You win and lose together. We made progress, but in the end we lost.

"We take second and third in the Drivers' Championship, but in Formula 1 only the winner counts.

"Although, second and third is better than fourth or fifth."

Daniel Ricciardo admits he was "confused" by the strong performance of Red Bull in the closing races of 2018.

In a year when the Milton Keynes outfit had sat as the third-best team pretty much throughout, their race pace, in particular, was certainly on a par if not better than the Mercedes and Ferrari ahead.

While the Australian was unable to capitalise on it with two retirements and a grid drop, teammate Max Verstappen did with a run of five straight podiums but explaining it was tough.

“This sport is so confusing at times,” Ricciardo was quoted by PlanetF1. “Even Brazil I was amazed at the pace we had.

“At the start of the race I was coming through the pack [having started 11th], and normally you damage your tyres, but at that point, I could still see I was faster than the Ferraris and the Mercedes.

“It was hard to overtake, but I knew we had the pace. I don’t know if we got it right or the others got it wrong, but we’ve certainly been fast the last few races."

Aware of the power deficit down the straight at Interlagos, Red Bull largely focused on race pace and optimising the tyre performance perhaps offering some reasoning why, but it wasn't specific to Sao Paulo either.

“Austin when Max came from the back to nearly win. Mexico P1, and I think it was going to be a one-two," Ricciardo, who retired after taking pole and while running second in that race, continued.

“Brazil if we started at the front, I think we would have won that one too.

“The car was capable of winning at all three of those races. It just seems like it has been an accumulation over the year.”

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For Ricciardo though, any benefit Red Bull get from the gains going into next year don't mean anything as he now heads off to Renault for 2019.

Asked if that move had impacted how the team worked with him in the closing races, he gave an honest answer.

“I probably wouldn’t know anyway! This sport’s so complex," he smiled.

“But they know their strengths. I think the aero this year has come on really strong, but even the whole geometry, suspension of the car.

“You watch the onboards of the other cars and see the other drivers’ helmets move a lot, and ours are quite still.

“Everything, the whole compliance of the car they’ve really nailed this year. I don’t know the details but I think that’s also one of the strong points of the team.”

Lewis Hamilton showed more "relief" when Mercedes won the Constructors' title than he did following his own Drivers' crown, according to team boss Toto Wolff.

The Briton had been in a comfortable position in the race for a fifth title with the race in Mexico more a confirmation of his achievement than anything else.

In the teams' battle though it was a little closer with Ferrari able to push Mercedes onto Brazil before a fifth consecutive double championship success was sealed.

"I feel he's just so embedded in the team and integrated that the Drivers' title felt incomplete, which for a driver is really strange because they are calibrated on the Drivers' title," Wolff claimed.

"He said it felt incomplete and that we needed to seal the teams' title.

"When you look at his face, that was almost more relief and happiness about sealing the Constructors' title than the first one.

"And that's why he just didn't take his foot off the throttle until the very end, and that is somehow a new Lewis also."

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In fact, Wolff believes that rather the dip Hamilton is known to have when a championship is secure, in 2018, it was the opposite.

"He's actually driven stronger after winning the Drivers' title," the Austrian believes.

Williams technical director Paddy Lowe has claimed "no one" within the Grove-based team has any worries about the ability of Robert Kubica.

The Pole will make his much anticipated return as a race driver in 2019, eight years after a serious rally crash left him with severe arm injuries that some thought would prevent him from driving again.

Despite his remarkable recovery, there is still some limitations Kubica has to overcome and his pace in test and practice sessions hasn't been particularly impressive.

“We went through a careful evaluation process last year and chose Sergey [Sirotkin] and it was a good decision,” Lowe said comparing the situation to this time in 2017.

“Robert was then unable to show his best side but 12 months later we know him better, we have seen what he can give us and what he can do.

“Perhaps people outside the team still have doubts, but no one in the team even thinks about it.”

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One key motivator for his promotion from reserve driver was his newly found backing from Polish oil giant PKN Orlen with that partnership confirmed by Williams on Thursday.

Max Verstappen admits his aggressive overtakes on Esteban Ocon during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were motivated by "revenge".

There was still a palpable tension between the pair at the final race following their collision while the Dutchman was leading two weeks earlier in Brazil, so it was almost fitting they should battle again at Yas Marina.

A poor start had put the Red Bull driver behind the Frenchman and he barged his way through twice at the Turn 7 hairpin after Ocon had been able to repass following the first move.

“I thought to myself ‘If he shuts the door, I’ll push him off the track’. It may have been revenge for Brazil,” Verstappen told Austria's Servus TV.

“I liked it. It felt good.”

Not long after lights out, these two were straight back at it in Abu Dhabi

Take it away, @Max33Verstappen and @OconEsteban ?#AbuDhabiGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/7wSo96eFri

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 25, 2018

Max would go on to finish third after passing Valtteri Bottas, a result which also saw him jump the Finn into fourth in the Drivers' Championship.

The only disappointing thought going forward is, with Ocon not on the grid next season, we'll have to wait until 2020 until the pair come to blows again.

By then, however, Esteban might just be behind the wheel of a Mercedes.

Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel have indicated there is little difference between the compounds Pirelli have produced for 2019 compared to this season.

The tyres have been an area for debate with drivers complaining of an inability to push hard during races to prevent blistering and ensuring most races stick to the engineers preferred choice of a one-stop strategy.

While the Italian supplier has made some changes for next season, including the dropping of the Supersoft compound, Bottas, who gained more experience than anyone having run both days of the tyre test in Abu Dhabi, was unconvinced.

"No, they didn't feel strange," said the Finn. "The differences are really small.

The inner structure is a bit thicker, which means the blistering should be less but the surface of the tyre overheats just as it did before. It means we can do one lap flat out but then we have to manage them again."

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Next year, the treads are also expected to be thinner at every race, with only those circuits that have been newly resurfaced seeing the surface shaved slightly to avoid blisters.

The Mercedes driver also offered insight into his program over the two days...

"Today we worked on compound scans, trying all the 2019 compounds from the hardest to the softest rubber," he explained.

"We focused on medium and long runs, gathering plenty of data and learning about the tyres. This week we've got lots of data for the team to analyse over the winter and we can't wait to dig into it."

While the initial evaluations may sound like Pirelli has ignored the requests of the drivers, Vettel, speaking on Tuesday, offered a reason.

"We only had that conversation three weeks ago so it has no effect on these tyres. It's more of a long-term project," he told Speed Week.

"The more interesting question is the tyre selection for next year is what tyres Pirelli will take to what tracks. That can have more difference than the move from 2018 to 2019."

Force India was left to dwell on several poor races after failing to overhaul McLaren for sixth in the Constructors' Championship.

The Silverstone-based team had to start all over again from the Belgian Grand Prix having lost all their points following the mid-season takeover by Lawrence Stroll.

Immediately though, they set about repairing the damage finishing as 'best of the rest' at Spa and Monza.

The momentum would stall a little in the final races, however, and the final result would see them 10 points behind McLaren in seventh.

“Sixth was possible, but we just made some mistakes in the last few races,” team boss Otmar Szafnauer told Autosport.

“Singapore was a big one, and we had a brake failure in Mexico. So that cost us sixth.

“There were points in the race [in Abu Dhabi] when we were mathematically ahead of McLaren, as before we pitted we were running fifth and sixth," he pointed out, "But you’ve got to wait until the end."

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Indeed, engine problems for Esteban Ocon at Yas Marina would end all hopes, even so, the American boss conceded the 52 points were still relatively satisfying.

“We’re happy-ish. From where we were in Spa, sixth was achievable, but seventh is not bad," Szafnauer added.

“In Spa we were last, so to come back to seventh was pretty good.”

Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn has slammed the inability for midfield teams to compete for podiums as "unacceptable".

There has been growing concern over the dominance of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull at the front with the top six positions at each race normally inaccesible without the factor of rain or a retirement.

It is proven by a number of stats, such as the 297-point gap between Red Bull and Renault in the Constructors' Championship but the number of podium finishes for the seven midfield teams since the start of 2017 is equally shocking.

"Two podiums from a total of 123 [across the two seasons] is unacceptable, especially when it comes with an ever increasing technical and financial divide," said Brawn speaking after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"It's a problem we are tackling together with the FIA and the teams, because the future of Formula 1 depends on it.

"There are various solutions on the table and we must all accept that we can't go on like this for too much longer."

To highlight the situation even more those two podiums have both come at one race, with Lance Stroll in 2017 and Sergio Perez in 2018 both finishing third on the streets of Baku.

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Haas owner Gene Haas suggested the midfield was akin to 'F1.5' with the battle for 'best of the rest' now a genuine category followed at each race.

"Their battle was certainly thrilling, however, it's hard for the fans to truly get excited about a battle for fourth place," said Brawn.

"Having said that, congratulations to Renault for finishing fourth, confirming the progress it is making and to Haas, as finishing fifth in only your third year in the sport is a great achievement."

The former Ferrari engineer and Mercedes team boss also highlighted two other stories from the midfield this season.

"Sauber fought back after struggling for the previous two years, partly thanks to the talents of [Charles] Leclerc," he added.

"But a special word goes out to the men and women of Force India who worked hard all season without letting themselves get distracted by the serious problems that affected the company and threatened its very existence.

I think that managing to keep Force India on the grid and assuring it a stable future is one of the most important things that happened in 2018."

Valtteri Bottas' winless year was the only mark against Mercedes in another highly successful year, Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn has claimed.

The Finn made a strong start to the 2018 campaign arguably beating an out-of-sorts Lewis Hamilton in the early races such were his performances in Bahrain, China and Azerbaijan.

All three races could have been won by Bottas if circumstances had been different but instead, his confidence dropped and much of the year was spent playing the 'wingman' role to his teammate.

“The only slight flaw, if there can be one in a season like this, was the performance of Valtteri Bottas, who had a difficult season, plagued by bad luck,” said the former Mercedes team boss.

“Valtteri had some opportunities to win, but either through misfortune, as in Baku, or due to the occasional, understandable, decision by the team to maximise the result for the benefit of both championships he didn’t manage it.

“The result [was] that he seemed rather out of sorts by the end of the campaign.”

Bottas' run of results in the final races highlighted it with four consecutive fifth-place finishes meaning he became the first Mercedes driver since 2012 to go a full season without a win.

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On the other side of the garage though, it was jubilation as Hamilton secured a fifth world title and the Brackley-based team made it five straight Constructors' titles as Ferrari's challenge faded.

“When you win so much and for so long, it is very easy to fall into the trap of complacency. It’s almost inevitable but can be avoided by consistently raising the bar," Brawn commented.

“Only Ferrari in the Schumacher era has won more than five titles in a row and I had the honour of being technical director of the team when they managed six.

“I recall that every year we were aware that for the following season, we would be starting again from zero, aware that just because we had been strong before, it didn’t automatically translate into an advantage of fractions of a second, because in F1, you can never stop.

“That’s what the team run by Toto Wolff was able to do – avoid panic when it realised that it was not enough to be perfect to beat Ferrari but that more effort would be required than had initially been envisaged.”

Haas have decided not to appeal the decision of a protest issued against Force India during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.

The American squad took the action believing the Silverstone-based team, which was taken over by Lawrence Stroll during the summer, was in breach of the regulations defining a Formula 1 constructor.

Their argument was that the use of cars designed and built by the old Force India didn't meet the requirements set out and therefore, they should be ineligible to receive prize money from commercial rights holder Liberty Media.

However, the FIA rejected their claim suggesting the arrangement equated to outsourcing parts, as Haas themselves do with Dallara, and as a result Force India are indeed a constructor according to the rulebook.

Despite suggestions of an appeal and maybe even a civil case, Haas revealed their decision via Twitter.

"Haas has elected not to appeal the decision of the FIA Stewards (UAE Document 20 - Haas Protest Decision) following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Nov. 22-25 2018," the tweet read.