First impressions at Interlagos

Darkness is falling over the main stand as I write this. It’s been an interesting Thursday, devoid of the kind of tension we’ve experienced in the past at title showdowns. It has nothing of the atmosphere of Jerez 97 or Suzuka 98, for example. I’ve seen both title contenders in the flesh and they both look remarkably relaxed. The tension will start to kick in tomorrow. Massa has every right to feel relaxed in many ways, it’s out of his hands and he has nothing to lose. He will go for the win and hope misfortune revisits Hamilton.

Hamilton has to stay out of trouble and he’ll be champion and that’s what most of the other drivers here feel will happen. I was at a press briefing with Alonso just after lunch at which he said he had ‘great respect for Hamilton’ and that they speak to each other regularly, but added a postscript that he would always prefer a team other than McLaren to win. He felt that Hamilton would close the title out on Sunday without too much trouble.

The wind is getting up, blowing the flags on top of the stands and bringing with it a squally rain shower. We have plenty of these forecast for the weekend. Will they play a significant role in the outcome?

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali was his usual smiling self this afternoon. He said that the team had fully analysed its poor performance in China and that, just like Hockenheim, it was all about not getting the best out of the tyres. He said that it will not happen again this weekend.  We will see when the cars run tomorrow.

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Massa’s task at Interlagos

Felipe Massa’s task in Brazil is clear; do what he has done the last two seasons and dominate the race. He looks like he has his head down a bit now, after being outpaced not only by Hamilton but also by Raikkonen in China. However he’s amazing at Interlagos and will no doubt be inspired by his home crowd, but there will be a bitterness about the experience too and this could really undermine his weekend. It’s a psychological issue and I’ll be watching very closely to see how he deals with it.

Massa knows that there is a very real possibility that this will be his only chance to win the world championship. You never know when a chance is going to come and you have to take it when it does. Robert Kubica has been making a similar point to BMW recently, annoyed that they didn’t pursue this year’s title.  

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The pitfalls in Brazil

The way I see it, Lewis Hamilton travels to Brazil this year in a very different frame of mind from last year, much lighter in spirit, more focussed and with a much better understanding of what it takes to close this championship out.

The most significant difference though is that he does not have to worry about  Fernando Alonso in the sister car. It was the Spaniard last year who dominated Hamilton’s thoughts at the finale after a season of bitterness and recrimination. Alonso felt that he could have won the title if McLaren had just restrained Hamilton a bit, and he’s right. Going into that last race, Hamilton was four points ahead of Alonso and seven up on Raikkonen, who went on to win in Brazil. Hamilton wasn’t really thinking about him and yet he emerged the champion.

 This year Hamilton’s mind is clear and focussed on Felipe Massa only; he knows that he will have a harmonious and serene atmosphere in his team all weekend, despite Kovalainen’s alleged complaint about being disadvantaged with heavy fuel in qualifying, and that he can focus all his attention simply on having a strong race, as he did in China.

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