Hamilton and Alonso gear up for Chinese GP

Oct 3, 2007, 14:47 GMT

Shanghai - The penultimate race of the Formula One season takes place this weekend with McLaren-Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso vying for the drivers' championship title.

Hamilton leads the standings with 107 points followed by Alonso on 95. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen lies third on 90 points but with just 20 available from this weekend's race in Shanghai and the subsequent Brazilian GP, the Finn's title dreams have been all but extinguished.

Raikkonen will be out of the running if Hamilton finishes fifth or higher in China.

'We will not give up. No way,' said Raikkonen on his personal website.

'It looks like Hamilton has wrapped it up, but we will not give up.'

Indeed, the 22-year-old Hamilton will become F1's youngest ever world champion if he wins the title in debut season on Sunday.

'Anything is still possible but I am feeling confident and very determined and I hope we will have another couple of exciting races,' he said.

'There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of days about the championship, but I just push that to the back of my mind.'

Meanwhile, Alonso admitted that his retirement in Japan has given him a mountain to climb but the defending champion refused to throw in the towel.

'There are still 20 points to be won and I am going to fight hard for each one of them,' he said.

'There is always a lot of talk of pressure and distractions at this time of the year, all I think about is racing and winning at Shanghai and Interlagos.'