• Japanese Grand Prix

'We are still a long way from the championship' - Vettel

Sebastian Vettel: "We don't know what will happen at the next race" © Sutton Images

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Sebastian Vettel is not taking anything for granted despite winning his second race in a row at the Japanese Grand Prix and closing to within four points of Fernando Alonso in the championship.

Vettel is the first driver to string together two consecutive victories this year, and with Alonso retiring at Suzuka he is now in prime position to close in on his third title. However, Vettel is not getting carried away with his recent success and is wary the results could just as easily swing the other way in the remaining five races.

"Obviously it was an important step today but we are still a long way from the championship," he said. "If you look at the last couple of races since we started back in Spa after the summer break it was very much up and down. I don't know what happened today, but at Spa Fernando was very unlucky.

"But these things happen and you don't hope for these things to happen to yourself, but we have so many races that it will happen. We don't know what will happen at the next race. It's good to take the points today and let's try to take the points at the next race. It's a long season with some crazy racing."

Vettel said he only realised for certain that Alonso was had retired midway for the race.

"I think first of all we made a good start which was very important because I think right behind me there was a little bit of a crash," he said. "I saw a Ferrari was out and halfway through the race when I was looking at the tower to see where the others were I saw that it was Felipe that was still racing so I assumed that Fernando was not racing anymore."

He said his car performed perfectly during the race.

"When you are dreaming at night, you dream one day to race a car like that," Vettel added. "The balance was great every lap which is why we had such a big gap to guys behind."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.