“Anything can happen, as we have seen this season. But it is good to be going
there with a lead, and we go there determined to close the job off because
we’re only halfway there.”
That is reference to the fact Red Bull departed the United States four days
ago with a third consecutive constructors’ championship to their name, but
with Vettel falling just short.
Horner has always suspected the championship battle would go to the last race,
and as he remarked he has “unfortunately been proved right”.
But given Vettel has not been off the front row of the grid, nor been out of
the top two come the end of the last two races at Interlagos, it would
appear Ferrari and Alonso’s best hope is for misfortune to befall the
German.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali would prefer to focus on what his team can
achieve rather than keeping his fingers crossed Vettel does not finish the
race.
However, he appreciates the Red Bull can be unreliable on occasion, as was the
case with Mark Webber in Austin when he retired with an alternator issue,
the team’s third this year.
“Pragmatically speaking we know the result has to be better,” added
Domenicali.
“We have to be in front of Sebastian and we need some drivers in the middle,
without thinking of the worst-case scenario.
“This is the approach we need. We know it’s not easy because he is driving
very well and he has a very quick car.
“But that doesn’t change what we have to do. We have to focus on our job and
see what will be the outcome of the race.
“But we saw Mark had a reliability issue and that can happen every time.
“However, I want to stay concentrated on the job we have to do, and prepare
the car in the best way we can.”