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Massa feels no pressure ahead of decider

Felipe Massa says he feels the pressure is off him now that Lewis Hamilton has a seven-point lead in the world championship, and plans to focus only on race victory in Brazil next weekend

Hamilton's domination of the Chinese Grand Prix means that the McLaren driver only needs a fifth place finish at Interlagos to beat Massa to the title, while the Brazilian must finish first or second and hope his rival hits trouble.

Massa said this situation means he can stop worrying about the championship and just go for another home win in the deciding race.

"Yes it's true I have a tougher job than Lewis in terms of the points situation, but my own objective for the weekend is much more straightforward than his," said the Ferrari driver.

"I only have to focus on winning the race on Sunday afternoon, hopefully with my teammate second behind me. The only thing I am thinking about is winning. After that, the matter is not in my hands and we will have to wait and see exactly what and how much we have won.

"For sure, Lewis will try and put pressure on me, but I have zero pressure, because I have nothing to lose.

"I have my people behind me and all the pressure will be on him, especially when you think about what happened at this race last year. I can't wait for the final Sunday of the season."

Ferrari have won at Interlagos for the past two seasons, with Massa taking victory in 2006 and then leading last year until falling behind his title-chasing teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the final stops.

"It is impossible to predict what will happen in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but I think our car has always been very good at this circuit, even if I cannot explain exactly why," said Massa.

"We have always gone well here and I expect that to be the case at the weekend, whatever the conditions, in the dry or in the rain and in qualifying and in the race."

He added that he expected Raikkonen to support his title bid again if required, and said he had no qualms about the use of team orders in China, where his teammate relinquished second place in the closing laps.

"I know there have been comments about my overtaking Kimi in the final stages of the Shanghai race, but they have come from people who don't really understand how the sport works," he said.

"It is a team sport and both me and Kimi know we have to do what is best for the team. For sure, psychologically a racing driver always wants to finish in front, always wants to win: it doesn't matter if you are playing a friend on a computer game or driving a Formula One car.

"But all drivers have a contract with their team and so you are not racing as an individual. When you are fighting for the championship, with only one driver with a mathematical chance of winning, then all the teams in the pit lane would do the same, which is to put that one driver in a position where he has the best chance of winning. That is part of this sport."

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