Vettel unfazed by higher temperatures

In Australia, Red Bull had no trouble getting its Pirelli rubber up to temperature quickly, whereas Ferrari, which has traditionally been very kind to its tyres, struggled to do so.

It's possible that at Sepang the track temperatures could mean that Red Bull is too aggressive on its rubber, but the reigning world champion is not concerned that this could compromise the team during the race, which according to Pirelli could feature up to four pitstops per car.

"It's not a worry," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT about whether Red Bull might be too hard on its rubber.

"This is a completely different track with different characteristics and different demands on the tyres and the cars.

"In Australia, we had no problem with getting the tyres into the right window. We're not afraid that now there will be a shift and we will be outside of this window. But in the case that we are, we will find out tomorrow and have to work around it.

"We are not concerned. It would be a surprised if it was off."

The 23-year-old added that he had had put his success in Australia behind him and is fully focused on the coming weekend.

"Australia is history," said Vettel. "We have got that one in the bag and a lot of points, but we have got to leave that behind us and focus on what is going on here."

With rain expected throughout the weekend, the German insists that he has no worries about bad weather despite the fact that Red Bull is expected to set the pace in dry conditions.

"I don't mind as long as we do well," said Vettel. "The risk in the rain to make a mistake, for things to go wrong or become more chaotic is much higher.

"Of course, if the car is very quick and you have very good races in the dry, why bring in unknown risks?

"But it's the same for everyone. There is still the chance for mistakes in the dry, with maybe four pitstops. It's the same for us as for everyone else."