PREVIEW: Vettel hoping for that 'goose pimple' feeling again Von Elmar Dreher,

Sep 8, 2011, 8:26 GMT

Monza, Italy - Sebastian Vettel has achieved virtually everything there is to achieve in Formula One racing, but one Grand Prix sticks out in his mind.

That was in 2008, when he became the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner after taking the chequered flag at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza as a 21-year-old.

'I had goose pimples when I stood in front of the fans on the podium,' he remembers.

At the time Vettel was driving for the Toro Roso team and was not given any chance of winning a race. Since then, he has joined the competitive Red Bull team, added another 16 race wins, a world championship title and several other records.

'It is unbelievable what a win on such a course can start,' he says.

In the last two years, Vettel has struggled on the Autodromo Nazionale and managed an eighth place finish in 2009 and a fourth place last year.

'We struggled because the track has the long straight and we were simply lacking the speed, but we are going into the race this year optimistically and a podium place would be a huge success.'

With a 92-points lead from his team-mate Mark Webber the 24-year-old German is under little pressure and with seven races remaining, has already surpassed his total from last year, when he won the championship with 256 points. He currently stands on 259.

However, he told the German Press Agency that he will not sit back and take it easy, 'As long as I have not made certain of the championship, nothing is easy. You never know what can happen.

'Of course it is nice to have a lead and possibly you feel somewhat safer, but you simply can't sit back and relax. You have to fight until the end.'

But even if Vettel says he is not yet assured of his second championship, his rivals are aware that it will take something unexpected for the Red Bull driver not to win the title.

'Only if Vettel has very bad luck in all the remaining races will he lose the championship,' said Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

The two-time champion, who is third in the standings - 102 points behind Vettel - can salvage something of his season with a victory in Monza, which is like the home track for Ferrari.

Last season Alonso went into the race 41 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and the victory in Monza was the start of a fantastic run that saw him win three of the remaining six races and finish third in two and build up an eight-point lead ahead of the final race.

A poor race strategy saw Vettel, who went into the race in Abu Dhabi 15 points behind Alonso and seven behind Webber, snatch the championship.

For Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa Sunday's race is thus important to appease the long-suffering Ferrari fans for a season that has not gone according to plan.

Similarly, the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Jenson Button are looking for further success, having won two of the last three races. Both drivers, however, have also failed to finish two races each and this had left them fourth and fifth in the standings. dpa adh