Vettel: No qualms about racing Hamilton

Vettel is starting the Interlagos event from seventh on the grid, three places behind Hamilton, having appeared to have opted for a heavy fuel strategy that could bring him into play with the McLaren driver in the later stages of the race.

And although well aware of what is at stake for Hamilton, Vettel says it will not change his determination to bring home as many points as possible for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

"I don't have to be careful, he has to be careful," Vettel told autosport.com when asked about how he would approach racing Hamilton. "In the end I am doing my race, we are here to race and unfortunately we are not fighting for the title for a couple of races now but we will do a normal race.

"I don't care if a car of whatever colour is in front or behind me. I will try to overtake, or stay in front."

Vettel has made it clear, however, that even though Toro Rosso are powered by Ferrari engines, that will not make a difference to his tactics on track.

"No," he said. "The media may suspect some kind of order, but we are here to race for ourselves."

Vettel feels his team have a good chance of scoring points this afternoon which would then secure them finishing ahead of sister team Red Bull Racing in the constructors' championship.

"We should be in reasonable shape," he said. "We are far off compared to Ferrari and McLaren, but we are somewhere in the midfield and we can have some nice battles.

"We try to do our best (against Red Bull Racing) and so far we have scored more points than them. That is why we are ahead.

"We will try to continue that. There is only one race to go and nobody wants to lose a fight for position, if it is in the drivers' or constructors' championship."