United States GP: Sebastian Vettel ignoring Fernando Alonso's plight

The Ferrari driver will start from eighth position after a difficult qualifying. Vettel secured his sixth pole position of the 2012 season.

Vettel, 10 points ahead of Alonso in the standings, will be champion on Sunday if he wins the race and Alonso finishes outside the top four.

The Red Bull driver insisted he was not getting ahead of himself.

"There's not much to feel. We have to look after ourselves," said Vettel. "I am happy we had a smooth session with no issues. Yesterday afternoon was not ideal, but these things can happen and they might happen again.

"It is the best strategy to keep your head down and try to do your best. I am very happy with the result but so far nobody has scored any points.

"We saw in the last race how quickly things can change and starting from the back gives you opportunities. We will focus on our race and tomorrow aim to seal the constructors' title for the team."

The world champion said the problems he suffered during second practice on Friday will not affect his race performance.

"Not really. We could get a decent run on lower fuel. The boys did a good job to get the car ready in time to have enough for a short run. It was very important, otherwise we would have been a little bit in the dark.

"Obviously you can't tick all the boxes you would like for Sunday, but if anything we missed a little on the short runs.

"I think we can say we were quite competitive and happy with the results today."