No distracted driving for Vettel as title nears

Singapore: Sebastian Vettel can clinch his second Formula One world title in a row on Sunday but the Red Bull driver says he is in no hurry to get the job done and is treating the Singapore race like any other.

"It's (the title) not the objective for this weekend, the target is to optimise our performance and then I either get a nice surprise or not," Vettel told reporters on Thursday.

The 24-year-old German, aiming for his ninth victory of the season, leads the standings by 112 points with six races remaining.

Should he stretch that advantage by a further 13 points on the streets of the southeast Asian city-state, he would become the sport's youngest double world champion.

"Generally, our target coming into the season was to defend our title. We are in a very good position so there's no reason why the target should change. It doesn't really matter when, it only matters to us that it happens," Vettel said.

"So far we haven't won anything. We are in a good position but there is still some way to go. We will approach it like a normal race and try to achieve the best result.

"I think it's a very good race, one of the best we have in the season. It's a night race so I am very much looking forward to it," he said of the tight, 5.073-km street track

"The circuit is one of the toughest for the drivers and you have to keep your focus...so it should be a good race.

"It will be a long weekend and a long race... At nearly two hours, it's longer than all the other races we have during the season."

Vettel, who snatched the 2010 title with a win in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, last year finished a close second behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at Singapore's Marina Bay circuit and he expects the Italian team to be one of Red Bull's main challengers on Sunday.

"Ferrari always seem to be competitive here and I think we were equally matched last season but I couldn't get past on the track. I hope it's the other way around this time but we will see," he said.

"It's hard to predict who will be the most competitive but I expect us to be fighting McLaren and Ferrari, while Mercedes could also have a good chance here.

"It's a circuit where the car is important but I think the driver can make a big difference."