Nico Rosberg is braced for a fightback from Lewis Hamilton, who he says is as focused as ever, in their battle for this year's world championship.
But Rosberg insists he won't change his approach after his win at the Japanese GP put him 33 points ahead of Hamilton with four races to go.
With that kind of margin, no-one could blame Rosberg for beginning to allow thoughts of winning the title to enter his mind, but the German has maintained throughout the season that he is just taking each race at a time.
At the final four races in Texas, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, he could afford to just follow Hamilton home in second and still take the championship - but Rosberg has vowed to carry on targeting victory.
"I really try not to as it's working quite well as it is, so I'm going to keep on going like that," he told Sky F1.
"There's no point getting into any of that stuff. I just want to keep on trying to win the races, I don't want to start calculating or bringing home second places."
In the post-race news conference Hamilton described Rosberg's lead as a "healthy margin" and it seems the German can't help but acknowledge he is in a strong position:
"I'm well aware of the points. 33 points - it's better that way than the other way round."
Rosberg's reflections on the weekend as a whole sum up the kind of confidence he appears to have right now:
"It's been a great weekend for me from the word go. I got everything right. I felt comfortable from the first lap on Friday."
Contrast that with his team-mate, who had an off-track battle to contend with as well as fighting one on the track. But does Rosberg think Hamilton was distracted by the on-going spat with sections of the media?
"I'm the guy who knows, as I see backstage, and Lewis was as focused as ever this weekend. He was putting in the long hours and getting the car perfect."
Rosberg has maintained the same stance all season - that Hamilton is still the bench mark whatever the standings suggest - and he fully expects his title rival to push him all the way.
"You don't need to expect him to back off in any way. Lewis is always a fighter. It's always a good battle and it's going to continue to be. He's going to be going for it in the last four races. There's still a long way to go.
And what about those around him? Well, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has this to say about Rosberg: "If you want to be a world champion you should avoid mistakes to the minimum and that's what he's doing."
"33 points is quite a big gap if everything goes right. But we have seen that one DNF and the other guy winning is 25 points lost and then the championship is open again."
Up next is a track that won't bring back the fondest of memories for Rosberg. The United States Grand Prix was the scene of Hamilton's title win last year and also that memorable cap-throwing incident.
But despite that he's feeling positive about what's ahead: "The upcoming races really suit me, I've always felt comfortable at those tracks."
That said, it's a race Hamilton has won three of the four times it has been held so far in Texas, whereas Rosberg has never experienced victory at Austin.
Don't miss The F1 Report's review of the Japanese GP on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday evening.