Will Jenson be dancing a samba on Sunday?

When I won the Brazilian Grand prix back in 2001 I made a lame attempt at a samba on the podium, and the real question this year is, who will be dancing after the race? There's no question that Rubens Barrichello will be doing his usual comedy gyrations on the podium if he finally wins his home grand prix at the 17th attempt, but even if he does, Jenson Button could do enough to clinch the title if he is second or third.

My gut feeling is that the upgrades Red Bull introduced in Singapore will allow it to set the pace, although it's not clear whether Brawn has some upgrades up its sleeve.

McLaren could also be strong because the first and third sectors are all about straightline speed, which will suit KERS, and the twisty second sector will play to the low-speed strengths of the car. As the track is at an altitude of around 800 metres, the power output of the engines will be slightly lower because of the drop in air density, while the KERS will still produce 80bhp.

So proportionally it will be worth even more at Interlagos, which means that it could be McLaren or Red Bull to the fore, perhaps with Brawn just behind.

Jenson doesn't need to win, but he will need a meaty chunk of points going to Abu Dhabi. Based on recent form, you'd expect Rubens to lead the way in that battle, but what Jenson desperately needs to avoid is a qualifying performance in the lower reaches of the top 10. Or, heaven forbid, outside the top 10.

For Rubens, he will be going all out to win. Although he hasn't managed it before in Brazil, he's had some good performances. He put a Jordan on the front row in 1996 and was leading in 2003 when he ran out of fuel, so just seems to have been unlucky. That won't have an effect on him at all. If a driver has a bogey circuit where they struggle, that can.

Ironically, I never felt I was really on top of Silverstone - it was just circumstance and perseverance that allowed me to be in the right place at the right time to win twice. But Rubens has been very fast here in the past and I'm sure he will be very much at home.

As for Sebastian Vettel, he just needs to win. In theory, the fact that he's the only Red Bull driver in the hunt should help the team, although it never really works out like that. Unless you have comfortably the quickest car on track and can run one-two, these things rarely pan out as you imagine in the strategy meeting! Red Bull also has to keep an eye on the engine situation, although I'd imagine that the altitude will put less stress on the V8.

That, combined with the fact that Vettel will have been able to back off on the engine during the race at Suzuka, means the situation has been well managed. If there's a problem, that's motor racing.

But it's not just going to be about the title-chasing teams. It has been an astonishingly unpredictable season and with the track being so unusual we could easily see one of the midfield teams pop up and putting in a good performance, as we've seen Ferrari, Force India, Toyota and Williams all do this season. So who knows who will show their hand. Those teams haven't got any championship concerns, so could be a real spanner in the works for the title contenders.

I can see this championship fight going right down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. It's unusual for a title to go down to a three-way shootout, although it did happen in 2007 with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, and although it won't do anything for Jenson's nerves, it would be fantastic news for all of us who will be watching.