Hamilton says he has learnt from China

The championship leader saw his advantage trimmed to just four points over McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso after he slid into the gravel in the Shanghai pitlane entrance while struggling with extremely worn tyres.

"China was another valuable lesson for me this season, and an incident I will take from and try to develop as a driver," Hamilton said. "I moved on from the disappointment pretty quickly and since leaving Shanghai, my sole focus has been on Brazil."

Hamilton only had to finish ahead of Alonso to clinch the title in China, but stayed out too long as his intermediate tyres wore on the drying track, and then lost control when he finally pitted for dries.

He said that he wasn't taking anything for granted in Brazil despite having the edge in the standings.

"Whilst I might be ahead by four points, this championship is still very open," he said. "I will do what I can to score the points I need, and the rest is out of our hands."

If Alonso wins the race, Hamilton has to finish second to become champion.

"Although I am now only four points away from Lewis, I still need for there to be a lot of circumstances in my favour for me to win the drivers' title that are out of my control, but for sure I will be doing everything that is under my control to make it happen," Alonso said.

"I have to do my bit and then hope everything else falls into place."

An FIA official will be present in the McLaren-Mercedes garage in Brazil to ensure that both drivers are treated equally, but Alonso insisted he had no concerns in this area.

"I am sure we are going to Brazil with full equality across the team and two cars capable of fighting for victory in the race and the championship," he said.

McLaren issued a statement last week pledging that both drivers would be given equal opportunities to win the championship, and the team's CEO Martin Whitmarsh reiterated the point.

"There have been well-publicised suggestions of there not being equality for both Fernando and Lewis," Whitmarsh said.

"However we can categorically state that they will be given the exact same opportunity to win the race and the championship.

"Both drivers have held these positions for the majority of the year, and every single member of the team is pushing hard for the victor to be one of our two drivers. For all three championship contenders, and our nerves, we hope to have a race without any weather complications, given the unpredictability of the region, accidents or incidents.

"It is a fantastic end to the season, and we hope to have a fantastic race for the fans."