One race, seven points. Here we go again

Ron Dennis seemed very relaxed as he surveyed the scene on the grid in China.

"The only thing I want," he said, "is a clean race."

He got exactly that, for after a season packed with dramas, we had a grand prix that was not only clean and lacking in any form of intervention by the stewards but, let's face it, was not exactly thrilling, either.

If nothing else, Shanghai set us up with a tense finale at Interlagos. Seven points might be a big margin, but it throws up two essential truths - Felipe Massa has to finish at least second, and Lewis Hamilton has to finish.

Of course, there are a myriad of permutations, but the bottom line is that if either of those things doesn't happen, the other guy will have it.

Following his lapses in Japan (by which I mean his two separate first lap disasters), Lewis certainly made his job easier by hitting back with a near perfect weekend. His race day performance was a crushing display and you can bet that he had something in reserve, not least because he knew that his engine has to go to Interlagos.

He couldn't have asked for more and the only frustration was that after such a strong performance, he gained just two points on his rival.

"I'm very happy," he smiled afterwards. "It was a great weekend, we really managed to pull it together. I'm very happy with my weekend, no mistakes, we got the job done, and that's what we needed.

"We have updates for the next race, which is even better. The team has been working hard to improve it and the car feels great. It's never perfect, but it was as perfect as it could be, so I'm very proud of them, proud of the car and proud of us together.

"Our engine is good, I didn't use much of it this race, so we should be strong."

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton © LAT

Of course, 2008 is his second showdown in Brazil, but this one will be quite different because the man he's up against is the local hero. It's going to be interesting to see how the public reacts and how Lewis deals with it. He's actually well-liked in Brazil because he's seen to some degree as a successor to Ayrton Senna - yellow helmet and all - but that may count for little when there's a chance that a genuine Paulista has a shot at taking the title for the first time since 1991.

Lewis is confident that he can deal with those pressures: "I don't see it as a problem. To be honest, I feel quite at home in Brazil because I fit in pretty well. People think I am Brazilian. So it's not going to be a problem. I'm sure he'll have a lot of support but I know I'll have a lot of support as well.

"My family will be there and that's all that matters. Winning the race is the toughest thing.

"I'm calm. I'm looking forward to it for sure, it's a beautiful country and I think the fans there are some of the best you see, as it's the last race and the atmosphere is incredible. I'm really looking forward to it. The track is great as well."

It's anyone's guess as to what will be going through his mind in the days between now and the start of the race weekend. Quite rightly, he can be a little frustrated about some of the recent FIA decisions and equally he may have some regrets about some of the mistakes he's made through this year. He just needs to put all of that behind him and focus in the way that he was able to manage in China. He knows that better than anyone.

"It's never over until it's over. I'm going to approach Brazil the same as I did this weekend and I think we'll be even more competitive there, so I'm looking forward to driving the car."

Lewis was pretty confident last year and it was a supreme twist of fate that takes him to Brazil with the same seven-point margin over a Ferrari driver.

"I was just reminded of that. But I'm not superstitious and I know we'll be strong there."

If Lewis was buoyant after his win, the Ferrari team was a little shell-shocked by his speed. As early as Friday it was clear that Ferrari didn't have the pace they expected to have. Indeed, Massa was nearly 0.4s off Hamilton in the morning and trailed by over 0.7s in the afternoon, when four other cars also got between the Brazilian and the McLaren driver. There was the usual story of fuel loads and so on, but the glum faces in the camp told the story.

In qualifying, the red cars earned second and third but still the pace was lacking. Any thoughts that it might be different come the race were squashed within a few laps of the start, as Lewis built a lead on Raikkonen and Massa struggled to keep up with his teammate.

Felipe Massa and engineer Rob Smedley on the grid © LAT

Massa admitted that the race was harder than anticipated: "A little bit tougher. We expected that we had a slightly stronger pace in the race. I think Lewis showed a great performance Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so there was not much we could have done today. We tried, but I think he was quicker than us. I think the best position we could finish today was second and third, so we did the best we could achieve and that's always important."

It was interesting that everyone at Ferrari was pretty open about the situation and even complimentary. Lewis was quicker on the day, he did a better job, that sort of thing. When I asked Felipe's race engineer Rob Smedley what the issue was, he had a straightforward answer.

"I think it's Lewis and his McLaren, to be honest. I think he's quite fantastic here and it was difficult for us to beat him. But fair play to him, he's done a good job. We did good starts, but he did a better start than he did at Fuji. He got into the first corner first, he led from there and he was just better than us. I don't think it was anything to do with the strategy.

"The strategy was always to get the car on pole position, but if the car's not actually quick enough then you're never going to do it, are you? We've been to places where we had the best car, we put it on pole position and won quite easily. Today we didn't have the best car, or we didn't have the best driver/car combination. If you look at McLaren, Kovalainen was really much slower compared to Lewis.

"Lewis is a very good driver and you've got to take into account that he was one second a lap faster than his teammate on race pace. So are we dealing with the car, or are we dealing with the driver?

"You saw the lap time we did in qualifying and we weren't quick enough. We've just got to go to Brazil and see if we can be a bit quicker."

The other interesting story was Raikkonen's pace relative to Massa's. For the second successive race, Kimi outqualified his teammate - and he did it with a heavier car, albeit by just a lap. The Finn was much happier after Ferrari changed a few bits and got it back closer to his liking.

"We were pushing all race," said Smedley. "In the first stint, Felipe compared to Kimi, we weren't very quick. In the second stint we were very good and we made a lot of the gap back. And especially in the pit stops and the out laps, which are crucial, we made a lot of the gap back. And then Kimi on the soft tyres at the end, it grained a little bit, and Felipe on the hard tyre, it just went a little bit better for him."

It was interesting that the two Ferraris ran different tyre strategies: "Just because we felt the soft was good. We knew it would grain for three or four laps and then afterwards it was very good, it was very quick."

Kimi Raikkonen leads Felipe Massa © LAT

"I had a bit of graining sometimes during the race," Massa confirmed. "And when the tyre came back, it came back in a good way and I was doing good lap times, reducing the gap. But for sure in the beginning it was not easy. The car was not 100 per cent easy during the whole weekend."

In the end, the pace difference wasn't critical because we all knew that Kimi would eventually do his duty and let his teammate by. He wasn't too subtle about it, dropping his lap time by some 2.5s on the lap that he moved over. The manoeuvre drew a chorus of sarcastic boos in the press room, although afterwards some people seemed genuinely affronted by the Ferrari strategy, seemingly oblivious to what happened in Brazil last year and the fact that the FIA has made it clear that such tactics are fine when the title is at stake.

Massa now goes to his home race having to pull off the same trick as Raikkonen managed last year in overcoming a seven-point deficit.

"Seven points is always difficult," he said. "But it's not impossible, that's the most important thing. We need to do what we can, thinking of winning the race. Maybe it's not enough, but I think that's the most important thing we have in our minds. We saw exactly this thing happen last year, and in many other sports, so we keep fighting.

"The spirit is to win the race and keep fighting for both championships. That's exactly what I want and what the team wants, to keep up our head and do the maximum we can."

And of course he can rely on help from Raikkonen, should it be required.

"We are very unique team and that's always important. We've worked together two years and we have a great relationship, the whole team and drivers. Ferrari used to be very great in this respect for so many years. We know what we have to do and we know what we want, that's always helpful for the fight, for the battle.

"We are in the position in the last race that we are in the final of the World Cup and you know the match finished 0-, and we go to penalties. I lost the first two penalties, McLaren scored the first two, then we need to score and they need to lose two others. So we are in the same position."