Vettel staying cautious as he closes in on title

10:10 04/12/2013
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  • Sebastian Vettel stands just 56 laps away from becoming the youngest triple world champion in Formula One history. Vettel continued his total domination of the United States Grand Prix weekend, following his clean sweep of practice by setting the fastest times in all three qualifying sessions.

    It means the 25-year-old will start his 100th grand prix from his sixth pole position this year, and 36th of a career which threatens to scale new heights today.

    Leading title rival Fernando Alonso by 10 points going into the race at the £250million Circuit of The Americas on the outskirts of Texan capital Austin, the duo are separated by seven places on the grid.

    Alonso could only qualify ninth in his Ferrari, but will move up a position to eighth as Lotus’ Romain Grosjean will drop five places from fourth after being penalised for a gearbox change.

    Alonso has to finish within 15 points of Vettel to ensure the title fight goes down to the wire in Brazil next weekend, but clearly faces an uphill battle to achieve that on the evidence so far.

    Vettel only just made pole, however, as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton produced a stunning performance to finish just a tenth of a second adrift. He will start on the dirty side of the grid which is a distinct disadvantage on this track.

    Vettel said he was “very pleased with the result”, and rightly so given Alonso’s position saying he was unconcerned about his rival’s woes.

    “There’s not much to feel,” said Vettel, when asked for his thoughts.

    “We just look after ourselves, so we are very happy, we had no issues today, although we lost a little bit of time yesterday (with a water leak), but these things can happen.

    “The best strategy is to keep your head down, which was the target in qualifying. But we saw at the last race in Abu Dhabi how quickly things can change, so we’ll focus on our race.

    “Tomorrow we have the chance to seal the constructors’ title for the team, which is what Mark and I will be looking out for.”

    Hamilton naturally expressed his fears as to his starting position as he said: “I’m not really concerned about the hill (at turn one), I’m more concerned about the dirty side of the grid.

    “I practiced a launch earlier (in final practice) from that side and it was very slippery. I don’t want to get in the way of Seb’s race, however, I do want to win and I’ll try and get through their cleanly.”

    The conditions – a combination of Pirelli opting for the harder two of the four dry compounds available and the glasslike nature of the new track – resulted in all three sessions proving hectic.

    It allowed the drivers to stay out on track, putting in lap after lap with the aim of allowing the circuit and the rubber to come together, at least giving the American fans their money’s worth.

    It is why the inside line down the home straight will prove tough for anybody in their bid to get away, meaning Hamilton will come under pressure from third-on-the-grid Mark Webber in his Red Bull.

     

     

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