Tokyo - Lewis Hamilton may hold a seven-point lead over
closest rival Felipe Massa in the race for the Formula One drivers'
championship title going into this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at
the Fuji Speedway but the Ferrari man is still confident of success.
'We have a great opportunity ahead of us and we won't give up. Our
target is to win the race,' said Massa, whose title hopes took a
serious dent at the Singapore GP when he finished out of the points
after driving from the pits with the fuel hose still attached to his
car.
Meanwhile, Hamilton will be hoping that he puts in the same kind
of sovereign performance in his McLaren-Mercedes as he did last
season when he won with ease.
While Hamilton's win in the rain last season left the Briton 12
points ahead of the field with just two races remaining, he still
managed to end up losing out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the
overall standings.
But the McLaren driver feels he is better prepared this time
around.
'I feel a bit stronger at this point in time than I did at the
same stage last year,' he said at a FIA and Bridgestone press
conference Wednesday ahead of the third-last race of the year.
The atrocious weather conditions of 2007 look unlikely to be
repeated with good weather predicted but either way McLaren don't
seem concerned.
'Rain played a part in four of the 15 races so far this season and
three times Lewis was the first over the finishing line,' said
Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug, who also played down
Ferrari's disaster in Singapore.
'The reigning world champions aren't a dumb team because of it but
instead have only shown how thin the difference is between triumph
and defeat in Formula One,' Haug told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Ferrari have taken action to prevent any reoccurrence with the
electronic pit release system being replaced by the traditional
lollipop man in Japan.
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