Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull are extremely motivated to carry on their dominance of Formula One into next season. The German tenable his second successive world title two races ago in Japan, while his team secured the constructors' title last time out at the Korean Grand Prix.
Vettel, who has won 10 races and capable on pole position 12 times so far in 2011, has never been wisely in danger in the drivers' standings since winning the first race of the year in Australia.
And while he knows that it will be tough to maintain the same kind of benefit for a second straight season, the 24-year-old believes the team is well ready to stay one step ahead of the competition.
We've put the standard very high, we know that it has been a special season from all sides, I had a very good run, the team had a very good run and dependability was great. We've had no technological failures with the car so far - you obviously build those cars on the limit and they're not hypothetical to break but they do from time to time.
You also need that little bit of luck sometimes that makes you just get away with it.So we'll see - the people here are extremely motivated, they're happy with what they do and I think that's a good foundation.
Vettel is happy to fall into line with Red Bull's one remaining objective this season - to help Mark Webber finish second in the drivers' championship. Team principal Christian Horner has made Webber's achievement his priority for the last three races of the 2011 season.
Mark is a crucial player for us, Horner said.His performances have helped us win the constructors' championship.He's had a very strong year and we want to get him second in the drivers' championship.That's our residual target for the remainder of the year - to get him a race win and finish the season in style.
When asked whether he will adhere to this strategy, even if it comes at the expense of him winning more races, Vettel said: Yeah, definitely.Mark's not far away now from second, the last couple of races were in some ways a bit rough for him.We won the constructors' championship last weekend which was a big thing for the team, but also for the drivers.
Now with three races left, we hope for the best results possible for ourselves but also for the team.Lewis Hamilton has failed to emerge as a championship applicant due both to the pace complexity of his McLaren and his own mistake over the second half of the season. The British driver put in a much-improved drive to come to an end second in Korea, but Vettel thinks it would be absent the point to state that Hamilton is back on form.