Rubens eyes Suzuka victory

With Michael Schumacher needing just a single point to clinch his sixth drivers' title, but Ferrari still battling Williams in the constructors' championship, the Brazilian could be set the task of winning the race while his German team-mate plays safe to secure his title.

"I am going to drive thinking about both championships," Schumacher confirmed in Suzuka. "I mean, it's pretty easy - Rubens is going to win the race and I take one point, so whatever Ralf and Juan Pablo do then we win both the championship anyway!

"We have two drivers in the team and both are responsible for doing the best job. We will both try to win the race and it is obviously a very good opportunity for Rubens as well."

Barrichello added: "We haven't talked about it strictly. But I have to work flat out to put the car on pole position or the front row and try to get the win. If I win then Michael doesn't have to do too much. But Michael is very competitive here. He's going to be there or thereabouts in qualifying anyway.

"There's no relaxing time. We're not going to start to finish seventh and eighth for the sake of having the points. We need to seal the constructors' and to do that we need extra points."