This Weekend's Race Will Be Different to Last Year, Says Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton admitted today that he is going into Sunday's Brazilian grand prix at Interlagos more confident and assured than he was before the same race last year and has no intention of letting the world championship slip away from him as he did in the closing round of the 2007 title chase.

Last year he went into the Brazilian finale seven points ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who emerged from the race as champion by a single point. This year Hamilton leads Raikkonen's team-mate, Felipe Massa, by five points.

In last year's race Hamilton lost ground after an off-track excursion on the opening lap, then dropped further back after a mysterious electrical problem slowed his McLaren almost to walking pace. He dropped to seventh place, losing the title by one point.

"I think it's quite a bit different to last year," said Hamilton, "simply because last year we came here and I'd had one bad race, so it was all a bit hectic and the pressure of being at the last race, and so on, was upon me and perhaps it got to me. But this year I feel it's just another race and we've come from a great race in China and I know here that we will be just as strong if not a little bit stronger. It looks positive and again my approach is the same as in the last race.

"We are just here to do the best job we can and we're not looking at it and saying that we have to do anything again. We don't really have much pressure on us, we just have to do a good job and regardless of whether we win, it's not so important but as a team we would love to win, so we will do the best job, that's what racing's about."

Hamilton brushed aside speculation that he might need to adjust his mindset and cruise home fourth or fifth to put the title beyond doubt. He believes that if he delivers more of the same then all will unfold to plan. "Well, first of all, obviously last year the beginning of the race didn't go well but I don't think that had any bearing on how the championship ended," he said. "If my car hadn't stopped, then we would have won. This year, I don't think I need to change anything."

For his part, Massa, who grew up only a stone's throw away from Interlagos and began his single-seater racing career at the track in 1998, simply wants a repeat of his dominant 2006 victory in front of his home crowd. "I love the circuit," said Massa. " It's a very special circuit for me. It's a circuit that, as Lewis said, gives you a lot of pleasure to drive. Always when you are at home and you have a nice circuit to drive, you always have extra motivation, extra good energy so I think it's even nicer to race here at Interlagos, so let's try to do a great job. I think our car can be quite strong here, because in the past we were very strong here. If you look at this season, in some tracks we were stronger, some tracks McLaren was stronger."

At this last throw of the dice it will be all about who can keep out of trouble. On the evidence so far this season neither championship contender has managed that particularly well.