
Vettel heads into the final five races, starting with the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, 24 points adrift of Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber.
Sandwiched between the duo are Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, with no indication yet as to the destiny of the championship.
The view of Vettel, however, is that he has made too many mistakes this season to be considered a serious contender, certainly in comparison to the wealth of the experience of the other four.
To that end, Vettel is at ease with himself, which could work in his favour as he said: "It is natural people always look at the front.
"But it doesn't change anything in my approach or our approach. It is pretty much the same as it has been all year.
"I try to focus on myself, try to achieve my optimum. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but surely we will always try.
"We still have a very good chance to win this championship, but we are not the favourites any more.
"It's true, what else can I say. Pure mathematics, I'm the last of the five in the title hunt.
"So I am the outsider if you want to put it that way, the others are favourites, and they have to cope with that role.
"But if you look at this championship, the last 14 races have been pretty much up and down, so things can change quickly.
"If you just take Fernando for example, he has already been written off twice in this championship, so we will see."
The flip side for Vettel is that he is under pressure to get the results to ensure he remains in the title hunt.
But the 23-year-old German admits there are no nerves, that he is cool with his current situation.
That appeared to be the case after Friday's two practice sessions when he finished quickest by more than six tenths of a second to team-mate and championship leader Mark Webber.
"For me at least, it doesn't really change a lot," added Vettel.
"I know what I want to achieve. I know why I am here, I want to win races and to win the title. If there is anyone putting pressure on me it is myself.
"All my career, all of this year, if people expect something from me it is a nice thing, but in the end it doesn't really affect me.
"In the end all I can do is focus on me. If the car is good enough for fourth place, like in Monza, then we have to make sure that we finish fourth and not fifth, sixth, seventh or worse.
"If the car is good enough to win here, we have to make sure that we win.
"It is as easy as that, and in the end I think if I score 25 points more than anybody else it is fine."
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