Vettel: I wasn't thinking of title

Sebastian Vettel is now finally aware of the mathematics required for him to cement his place in the Formula One record books.

Vettel produced arguably his best drive of the year, leading all of the 61 laps of the Singapore Grand Prix to leave him one point shy of becoming the youngest back-to-back and double world champion.

Vettel leads McLaren's Jenson Button by 124 points after the Briton finished a commendable second, just 1.7 seconds adrift at the flag, but with the 24-year-old German insisting he was "in control".

There are now just 125 points available from the final five races, starting in Japan in a fortnight when he and Red Bull will finally be able to crack open the champagne.

Vettel, who has previously buried his head in the sand when it has come to the championship scenario, said: "I wasn't thinking about the title in the race.

"I had made it quite clear beforehand that it wasn't important to know where other people were.

"Obviously I was given the gaps to Jenson, and then the race order at the end, so crossing the line I didn't know whether I had done enough or not.

"It was a little similar to what happened in Abu Dhabi last year (when he won the title). I didn't know in which position people had to finish.

"For Japan, I'm obviously smart enough to work it out myself now!"

There were only two moments of consternation for Vettel, the first caused by Michael Schumacher when he crashed on lap 30, bringing the safety car into play and wiping out his compatriot's 19-second lead.

The second was when Vettel was exiting the pits at the final round of stops, with Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen released in front of him, forcing the Finn to take avoiding action.

Other than that, it was a stroll for Vettel around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with a huge firework display greeting his triumph at the chequered flag.

"The car was fantastic all the way through," said Vettel.

"When we had to push we could pull away quite easily, pull a gap, which helped us, but then the safety car came out which didn't really fit into our plan.

"But I had a very good restart, and I was a bit lucky there were some backmarkers between me and Jenson and I was able to get back into the rhythm straight away, and pull a huge gap again.

"With Heikki, it was close. I had to lift. I think it was more of a misunderstanding, obviously not Heikki's fault. The team has to be aware of that.

"I was aware, but obviously if I hadn't backed off it would have been too tight for my front wing.

"At the end, when I crossed the line, there was not a big margin to Jenson, but I was in control.

"All in all this is a fantastic result at a track I really love. I love the challenge.

"For the championship, it looks like we have another chance at the next race."

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