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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McLaren confirm maiden Algarve test

McLaren are the first team to confirm that they will test at the new Autodromo Internacional Algarve in Portugal in December.

The state-of-the-art facility, which is due to be officially opened on November 2, is to hold a Formula One test from December 15-17.

A number of teams are expected to attend the try out of the 4.692-kilometre track, with a McLaren spokesman confirming on Friday that his team will definitely be joining the December test.

Ferrari have also indicated there is a 'strong possibility' they will be at the Algarve test.

It is understood that teams will use the December test as an evaluation for incorporating the venue on the 2009 Formula One testing schedule. Alternatively, teams could choose to nominate the track as one of their three alternative test venues that run alongside the standard test tracks.

The Algarve circuit is already scheduled to hold major international events, and talk of it trying to lure an F1 race in the future has not been dismissed.

Portugal's deputy sports minister Laurentino Dias said earlier this year: "The Government will do its best for Portugal to become part of the world's main championships. This circuit is prepared to host a range of motor races, from the most modest to Formula One."

As well as multiple circuit configurations, the track features a high-tech water sprinkling system to simulate wet weather running.

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Raikkonen happy to help Massa

Kimi Raikkonen says he was happy to give second place to Felipe Massa in China and will "be glad" to help his teammate again in Brazil next weekend if Massa is in a position to win the title.

The Finn ran second for the majority of last weekend's race at Shanghai but was unable to challenge Lewis Hamilton for victory and allowed Massa to pass him for the two extra points for second place in the final stint of the race.

"Once you don't fight for the title any more, it doesn't make a difference if I come in second or third, as long as the points for Ferrari remain the same," said Raikkonen.

"I gained the best possible result in China, considering that we couldn't fight for the win. We had the possibility to win, but our race rhythm was not high enough. The car didn't run too badly, but it wasn't at 100 per cent either.

"Hamilton was faster than us on the first laps immediately after the start and after the pit stops. We could have made up ground on the long run, but it was too late."

But Raikkonen has been encouraged by his performances in the last two races, particularly in qualifying.

"For once, I came back home from a race with a positive feeling," he said. "The best part of the two races in Japan and China is that I was competitive in qualifying again. The car behaves the way I like it and that's why I managed to start from the front row at Fuji and at Shanghai.

"I was glad to be back on the podium, I needed a good final stage of the season. The positive end gives me the possibility of a good winter and a good starting point for the next season."

He returns to Interlagos with fond memories of last year, when he overcame a seven-point deficit to beat Hamilton to the title - the same gap as there is between Hamilton and Massa this season.

"Now we're heading to Brazil, where I had the best weekend of my life last year - I'll never forget that moment," Raikkonen added. "Going back will charge me even more I guess.

"We'll try to repeat our 1-2 from last year and then we'll calculate the outcome of the standings and see where we are in the two championships. I'll have the same approach as in the last two races - the qualifying will be fundamental and it would be nice to start from the front row once more.

"I'd be glad if I could do something for Felipe, that he can win the title and Ferrari will be again victorious in the constructors' championship in the last race of the season."

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Massa delights in proving critics wrong

World championship contender Felipe Massa says his success in Formula One is being made sweeter by the fact that many people still do not like to give him credit for the job he is doing.

The Brazilian is heading into his home race at Interlagos next weekend as the only rival to Lewis Hamilton for the crown - after a season in which he has emerged as Ferrari's leading driver.

But despite his success, Massa admits it is still hard work to erase the reputation of a 'wild guy' which he earned during a crash-filled debut season with Sauber in 2002. However, he says winning over the doubters is giving him intense satisfaction.

"I think when you show people something that they don't believe, it's even more nice for you," said Massa in a group interview ahead of the season finale in Brazil.

"People always put me completely out of the game. Nobody expects you to do a good job and then you do a better job than everyone thinks and it's even nicer.

"I'm sure if I started my career as a Ferrari test driver my reputation would have been completely different. Because of the first year, which was bad, my reputation was bad for so many years."

Massa thinks that his debut in F1 came too early - and his errors came from trying too hard to follow in the footsteps of Kimi Raikkonen.

"I was a little bit of a wild guy, it's true," he said. "But I had a very difficult car to drive. I was very young - maybe too young to start straight away.

"Sauber had the best year in 2001 with Kimi and Nick. I came in the next year and they expected me to do exactly the same as Kimi did, but the car was not as good as it was the previous season. So I tried too much.

"I made some good results, scored some good points and made some good races. But I made some very bad races as well. That was not a great thing for my image and it took very long to recover and change my image in Formula One. But fortunately I think we changed it."

Massa believes the progress he has made during the past few seasons at Ferrari is simply the result of being more experienced.

"Even when you have a difficult car to drive, if you know how to set up the car and how to work with the team, then you know how to have a comfortable car to drive," he said.

"If you have a car that doesn't match with your driving style it's very difficult and very easy to make mistakes when you drive all the time at the limit. With experience I started to learn what I needed and how I wanted the car, and how to work with the team.

"A big part of the learning (for me was) as a Ferrari test driver. That year was like a university for me. Michael (Schumacher) was like the professor and I learned a lot from him, about how to grow inside the team and work with them better.

"To say what you want and to push hard in every area. I learned a lot from him but never tried to be more than him because you cannot. I just tried to learn a lot and wait for my time, and my time is coming a little bit now and I'm quite happy for that."

Massa has the chance of clinching the world championship on home soil – and is well aware that the unpredictable events of this year mean neither he nor Hamilton can take anything for granted about how the Brazilian GP will turn out.

"I hope it will be quite a good deal," he said. "I think it is just a great feeling to first of all be in the position to fight for the world championship, to be in my home race, so I think that is really nice feeling.

"But we have had (races like) Hungary and Singapore this year – and we had many races where unfortunately we could not score. But that is racing, and until the last lap you never know what is going to happen.

"You drive a car where everything is on the limit to be at the maximum performance, but to finish the race as well. Sometimes things don't work like that, and it is racing. It won't be the first time and it won't be the last time, but you learn a lot with these bad results."

And Massa sees no reason why he should look to a future outside of Ferrari now that he is achieving great success.

"I think you can never have a clear idea what is going to happen in three or four years, but for the next two years I feel very good in the team. I hope everything stays like that, and I don't see any reason to change.

"I am comfortable and happy. I think in life the most important thing is to be happy and if you are happy then your job comes more natural."

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Brazil preview quotes: BMW

Nick Heidfeld: "I'm pleased for the fans, but also personally, that we have an exciting finale to the World Championship. Plus, I'm curious to see whether the track is still the same as it was in 2007. That was a nice surprise, as the track's surface used to be really bad and very bumpy. It was always being patched up, but it was only when the track was re-asphalted ahead of the 2007 Grand Prix that it really became a good surface.

The layout of the Interlagos track is excellent and very demanding on the drivers . not least, of course, as far as our neck muscles are concerned. I think São Paulo.s pretty cool as a city, but at the back of your mind are always the stories about muggings and you hear about that sort of thing every year."

Robert Kubica: "Brazil is traditionally the final race of the season, and Interlagos is a very demanding and interesting circuit. My first race there was in 2002 in Formula Renault, and I've been back with the BMW Sauber F1 Team for the last two years.

Interlagos is physically very tiring because we drive the circuit anticlockwise. That's something we're not used to, and we feel it especially in the neck. I'm currently third in the drivers' standings, six points in front of Kimi, and, of course, it's my aim to defend this position.

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: "The 2008 Formula One season is now going onto the finishing straight. In 2007 the outcome of the title was only decided in a thrilling final race in Brazil. Perhaps the Formula One fans will also get to enjoy a similarly exciting finale this year. Two drivers still have a chance of becoming World Champion in São Paulo.

"The Interlagos circuit has many different aspects, and the weather can also be unpredictable. The long, uphill start-finish straight places particularly heavy loads on the engines. This uphill section also makes the start extremely exciting. Another of its characteristic is the altitude of São Paulo. The thin air means that the engines generate approximately eight percent lower output than at sea level. We are very much looking forward to the final race of 2008 and are aiming to record another good result to round off the season.

"This is the final race in what has been our most successful season since the launch of the BMW Sauber F1 Team. We have achieved our ambitious aims for the third year in
succession. We not only proved to be one of the top teams from the outset, we also recorded our maiden race win. It was all the sweeter, of course, that our success in Canada came in the form of a one two. As things stand, we have now had 11 podium finishes this year, compared with two in 2007. This statistic alone is evidence of the considerable steps forward we have made.

"Added to that, Nick brought us our first fastest race lap in Malaysia, Robert claimed our first pole position in Bahrain, and we.ve now scored points in 34 consecutive races, something no other team can match. The last time we went home empty-handed from a GP weekend was in Brazil in the final race of 2006. This achievement does not come down to chance. Our trump cards this season have been spotless reliability, our - for the most part - excellent race strategy, outstanding work in the pit stops and a very small number of mistakes from the drivers.

"In terms of pure performance, we still have ground to make up on Ferrari and McLaren
Mercedes, and we didn't make the progress we hoped to in the second half of the season. Indeed, some of our development projects did not yield the expected performance gains on the track. But I am certain we shall learn the lessons from this for 2009. After all, we want to be up there fighting for the World Championship title next season..

Willy Rampf, Technical Director: "For us, the Brazilian Grand Prix represents the end of a highly successful season, and of course we want to round the year off on a positive note. Interlagos is one of the few circuits - alongside Istanbul Park and Singapore - which we drive anticlockwise. Here, the middle sector is critical, with one corner following the next. The key elements are good traction and car balance. Top speed is important in the first and third sectors, with engine output playing a particularly prominent role on the uphill start-finish straight. This section also offers a good overtaking opportunity, as does the end of the straight in sector one. The track was resurfaced in 2007, which evened out a lot of bumps. In contrast to last year, when we opted for the softest tyre option, this time around we.ll be using the medium compounds."

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Di Montezemolo seeks team orders change

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo wants to speak with FIA president Max Mosley about changing the sport's rules on team orders.

After the furore caused by Ferrari switching Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on the final lap of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, team orders that influence the outcome of a race were outlawed by the sport's governing body.

The rule has been accepted for some time and caused little controversy since. However, the fact that Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa's understandable decision to swap places in China was cause for post-race discussion, questions have again been raised about whether the rule needs a tweak to prevent teams being put in awkward positions.

And di Montezemolo has said that he will bring the matter up with Mosley when they next meet.

"I'll talk about it with Mosley, we need to get rid of this hypocrisy," di Montezemolo told Gazzetta dello Sport. "The important thing is not to damage others. Besides that, team work, in a team sport, is one of the best things. Think of a cyclist leading the sprint for another."

Di Montezemolo also acknowledges that there has perhaps been too many stewards' decisions affecting races this year - although thinks in part matters are not helped by the kinds of circuits being raced on.

"Perhaps they've been a bit too picky, but I agree with them, otherwise the grands prix become a mess," he explained. "But the problem is the new circuits - they don't allow for the spectacle. It's enough with one Monaco."

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Theissen: BMW will learn from 2008

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen is certain his team will learn the lessons from their disappointing second half to the 2008 campaign, as they bid to become genuine world title contenders next year.

The team led the world championship points standings after the Canadian Grand Prix in June, but were unable to match the development rate of rivals McLaren and Ferrari in the second half of the year.

That lack of progress has been singled out as a key factor that BMW Sauber must address for next season, and something Theissen is sure will be analysed in great detail to ensure there is no repeat next year.

"In terms of pure performance, we still have ground to make up on Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, and we didn't make the progress we hoped to in the second half of the season," said Theissen in a team preview for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"Indeed, some of our development projects did not yield the expected performance gains on the track. But I am certain we shall learn the lessons from this for 2009. After all, we want to be up there fighting for the World Championship title next season."

Despite the feelings about the progress made in the second half of the campaign, Theissen is still delighted with that BMW Sauber delivered on track this year.

"We have achieved our ambitious aims for the third year in succession," he said. "We not only proved to be one of the top teams from the outset, we also recorded our maiden race win. It was all the sweeter, of course, that our success in Canada came in the form of a one two.

"As things stand, we have now had 11 podium finishes this year, compared with two in 2007. This statistic alone is evidence of the considerable steps forward we have made.

"Added to that, Nick (Heidfeld) brought us our first fastest race lap in Malaysia, Robert (Kubica) claimed our first pole position in Bahrain, and we've now scored points in 34 consecutive races, something no other team can match.

"The last time we went home empty-handed from a GP weekend was in Brazil in the final race of 2006. This achievement does not come down to chance. Our trump cards this season have been spotless reliability, our - for the most part - excellent race strategy, outstanding work in the pit stops and a very small number of mistakes from the drivers."