Sebastian Vettel has his eyes on the road.

That would seem to be something of a necessity on a circuit which the Red Bull driver yesterday almost affectionately described as "a killer", the Singapore Grand Prix perhaps the last true speed-bump as he motors towards a fourth sucessive world championship.

The German is in the driver's seat in this season's standings following consecutive victories in Belgium and Italy following the summer break; a 53-point cushion almost enough to smother any advances from nearest rival, Fernando Alonso of Ferarri. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, in his Lotus, are 81 and 88 points adrift respectively.

There is a growing sense that only if Vettel should fall asleep at the wheel - figuratively speaking, of course - will his ambition of parking alongside Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as a driver who has won four straight titles come undone. Singapore is an exacting track but, having won here in the last two seasons, Vettel could be forgiven should he be found revving up ahead of his return on Sunday.

He was careful not to appear to cocksure yesterday, though. "I am not really thinking about the points situation. Obviously, we are in a very good position, but I am just thinking about Singapore," said the 26-year-old.

"I am trying to keep focused because in order to stay at the top of our game it is important to focus. A lot of things have to go right for us to have success. We're not thinking about what might happen in six or seven races, just the next one."

Sunday will bring the only night-time grand prix on the calender and while Vettel has been hitherto unperturbed, the race has required the use of a safety car eight times over the five previous dates. Red Bull can be confident in the car they have honed in the garage following its impressive showing in the high-speed theatres of Spa and Monza, suggesting it is suited to whatever kind of race is required of it.

Red Bull could find themselves in cruise control for the rest of the season, then, should they succeed this weekend. "Hopefully. Our target is to be strong everywhere," said Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal. "Part of our strength this year has been the consistency we've had across different types of circuit. But we've had a good run in Singapore in previous years, so hopefully we can go there and do the same."