Vettel enjoys title toast

WORLD CHAMPION Sebastian Vettel has revealed he celebrated his fourth successive drivers' title with an impromptu night in his hotel bar before spending some time at home in quiet contemplation of his achievements.

Vettel did not have too much time to bask in the glory of yet another all-conquering championship season as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix follows just seven days later but he did admit the team spent a little while in the bar following the race win at the Buddh International Circuit.

"Obviously it was a great relief when I crossed the line on Sunday," he said.

"It was a great feeling. Sunday night the team still had to do the pack-up but we had a little bit of fun in the hotel bar, it was quite spontaneous. There is not a lot of time between India and the race here so the team were very busy so we couldn't go completely mad, but we had a good time.

"Then I had two days at home before coming here, they were quiet and not very spectacular so I just enjoyed the time at home and had some time to myself. It was good to sober up after India and get ready for here!"

Despite securing the title with three races remaining, Vettel shot a warning to the rest of the field that Red Bull will not be resting on their success and ambling towards the season's end.

"We don't approach the weekend as if there is nothing to gain," he added.

"We love what we are doing and enjoy the challenge and that is why there is not even a question about why we are here and what we have to do. We want to race the others as hard as possible and if we have a chance we want to win.

"I'm not getting in the car and thinking that there is a guarantee that we are going to do well. Maybe that is the impression you get from the outside - we come here and there is absolutely no guarantee we will do well. We will give it everything we have, yes we have a strong package, so we have a reason to be confident."

Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, paid homage to Vettel's achievements as the Mercedes driver conceded that Red Bull had "raised the bar" in recent years and left the rest of the field looking to play catch-up heading in to 2014 and a season where new regulations could spell the end of the Red Bull dominance.

"They have done an incredible job for some time now," said Hamilton.

"They have just raised the bar and everyone else needs to just work harder. As a team we are working as hard as we can for next year and hope we can compete with them.

"This year hasn't been perfect for me and so I'm always trying to learn and improve, there are always lots of areas that can be improved on for me and the team and we don't want to carry any of the negatives into next year.

"Ultimately that is what I want to do and that is what the team desire. It is a long, steep hill for us to climb but it is more of a level starting ground for everyone and you can either get it right or wrong and hopefully we can come down on the right side."

By Mark Bryans, Press Association