Vettel - hasn't forgotten feeling of defeat. - Sportinglife.com

Sebastian Vettel has not allowed himself to forget the pain of defeat even during his current run of untouchable form.

The Red Bull driver has been a class apart in the early weeks of the 2011 campaign, winning the opening two races from pole and claiming top spot for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix by seven tenths of a second from McLaren's Jenson Button.

Including last season, the reigning world champion will be looking to make it five wins in a row on Sunday to ensure he heads to the start of the European season in Turkey in three weeks' time with an unblemished record.

The 23-year-old's rise in F1 has been quicker than most - he did not, for instance, serve lengthy apprenticeships with midfield teams in the manner of a Button or Mark Webber - but he remains mindful of the times when poles and wins did not come quite so readily.

"Since halfway through 2009 we have had a very, very competitive car and we enjoy running at the front but we still haven't forgotten how it feels to run at the back, not only finishing fourth, fifth, sixth, even further down," said Vettel after claiming the 18th pole position of his career.

"That's Formula One, it's competitive. Sometimes you might be in a comfortable situation, other times it will be very tight and other times you will be behind."

Flanking Vettel in Saturday's post-qualifying press conference was the McLaren duo of Button and Lewis Hamilton, a reminder if he needed one of the way in which F1 fortunes can fluctuate.

Former world champions both, Button and Hamilton these days find themselves in the position where poles and wins are harder to come by than they were in their title-winning seasons.

But the McLaren are breathing hard down the neck of Red Bull in an effort to ensure it is they who will soon be dominating, and Vettel concedes there can be no complacency at Red Bull.

"Teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, obviously they are not as happy as they want to be and they are pushing very hard, so to stay where we are, we have to push harder than them to stay there," he said.

"I'm happy as I can be at this stage but I can't predict the future. I'm confident that we will have good races in the future as well, but first of all, there's a race tomorrow."

Vettel's current winning run is in stark contrast to the current woes gripping team-mate Webber.

The Australian already lies 28 points behind Vettel and will start 18th on Sunday after a weekend of struggle with his KERS device and a poor call on tyres in qualifying.

"It's true Mark did not have a good day," said Vettel.

"This morning he had some problems and in qualifying it was quite a shame as I think the car is quick enough.

"He has had a tough weekend so far so it is a shame that we are not both up there."