Sebastian Vettel says that such is his focus on taking his title defence race-by-race that he doesn’t even know exactly how many points ahead of his closest rivals he is in the championship.
The 24-year-old has made the best ever start to a F1 season after eight races and starts as favourite to win again at Silverstone this weekend.
But while his dominant run means he could in theory sit out all three races between now and the summer break and return at Spa in late August still guaranteed to be in the lead of the championship, the German says the title battle last year showed that no one can ever be counted out and therefore he just wants to go into every race with the same focus.
“To be honest I don’t really think about the gap,” he told reporters at the British GP on Thursday.
“I don’t even know the gap to the [drivers behind] – I think Jenson [Button] is second behind – because there is no importance leading the championship now. The most important time is after the last race. I think we learned that last year.
“Obviously we are in a bit of a different position right now compared to last year but it’s still a very, very long way to go and a lot of points to get.
“I think with the points system we run today it might be tempting to feel too safe so really I try to go race-by-race and step-by-step.
“The one and only thing I’m focusing on at this stage is free practice one tomorrow and not further ahead yet.”
Pressed on the claim that he didn’t actually know that he was 77 points clear of Button and team-mate Mark Webber, Vettel replied: “No, I don’t know so please don’t tell me!
“I don’t care. The thing is as soon as they [people] start mentioning points I skip that bit!
“What does it help? What is the gain, what do I learn from it? Obviously I know we are in the lead – you keep telling me – but it doesn’t really matter if it is one point or 100.
“It’s a long way to go and there is more points to get in the races we have in front of us than we had already. So it is not even half time.”
While Vettel has yet to be beaten by team-mate Mark Webber in race conditions this season, the Australian proved his closest challenger for most of the grand prix in Valencia two weeks ago and won at Silverstone last year after beating him into the first corner.
Vettel though doesn’t think the sister Red Bull will pose a significantly stronger challenge to him this weekend than any other, saying victory at the team’s home race is important for both of them.
“I think all the races we had so far we always had the chance to fight each other and fight the rest [of the field] so I don’t see this race being different to others,” he said.
“This is a fun track; I enjoy coming here, Mark enjoys coming here. He won last year, I won the year before. I had a puncture very early on last year as far as I can remember.
“So it’s a nice race and means a lot to us as it’s our home grand prix for the team. It’s special to all of us.”
“I think it’s the same as every weekend – we try to do our best and beat the other one. Nothing changes because we are in Silverstone.”