23/09/2013
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
Within touching distance of its fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship, Red Bull refuses to relax as the season begins to draw to a close.
A dominant Singapore performance from Sebastian Vettel, himself with one hand on a fourth Drivers' Championship, allowed the team to extend its points lead to 103 with just six races remaining. It could have been more but for an engine failure for Mark Webber on the last lap while running fourth.
"You can't become complacent in any way," team boss Christian Horner insisted after the race. "We never have yet and we certainly won't this year.
"We've had two bloody close (championships) that I don't want to go through again," he laughed. "Brazil last year I've now got several grey hairs from!"
Vettel headed into last year's season ending Brazilian Grand Prix with a narrow advantage over Fernando Alonso. A spin on the opening lap dropped the German to the rear of the field, preluding a nervous afternoon for the Milton Keynes squad as he raced back to eighth to claim his third championship by just three points.
Two years earlier the team had landed in Abu Dhabi with both Vettel and teammate Mark Webber in contention for the crown, chasing championship leader Alonso. A lights-to-flag drive that evening handed Vettel his first world title by four points, the Ferrari driver could manage no better than seventh thanks in no small part to Vitaly Petrov's Renault.
They're memories that Horner is keen to avoid reliving, though with Vettel 60-points ahead and the team 103 in the respective championships it's likely he won't have to worry too much longer.
"It's my job to worry," he laughed. "The next challenge is Korea, to get the most out of that venue, and then after that obviously Suzuka. If we keep doing that then the championship tables tend to take care of themselves.
"The most important thing is winning I think for us we're trying to defend both titles. Our job is to try and do that as soon as possible. It's not our responsibility to take it to the last race, which hopefully it won't go to."
Check out our Grand Prix gallery, here.