Lewis Hamilton: Brazil Is NOT Do Or Die

Lewis Hamilton has showed us his cool today, stating that this weekends title-deciding finale is not a case of "do or die."  The 23-year old told British ITV, "It is quite simple really, we are here to win."

The McLaren wonder-boy heads into the final race of the season, at Brazil, seven points clear of championship contender, Felipe Massa.  For the last two weeks the pair have been insisting that the most pressure is on the other driver.  Tomorrow and Sunday will show who has more pressure on them, and could possibly decide who leaves Interlagos as the Drivers Champion 2008.

Hamilton continued on to say, "We don’t have to win, so that is a pressure off our shoulders."

"We come here with a strong package and with a hope that we can challenge for a win and we will do the best job we can."

"We have not come here to finish further down the order but we obviously know that it is not do or die."

Yesterday saw Massa defend himself against claims, from Eddie Jordan, that the Brazilian might fight dirty in order to win the title, but Hamilton believes that the race on Sunday will be finished with no incidents between the title contenders.

"I believe every driver that’s here is a great sportsman and we’re all very competitive, so I just have to trust and believe in everybody and hope that we can have a fair, straight race," he said.

Hamilton can finish as low as fifth, even with Massa coming across the line in first, so surely, unless something drastic happens, he looks to have the race in the bag, right?  Wrong? Massa is very strong on his home circuit, and we all know exactly what happened in last years title show-down.

Speaking on last year's heart-ache, Hamilton insisted that he wasn't haunted by the gearbox problems that hit is car in the early stages of the race.

"Obviously last year the beginning of the race didn’t go well but I don’t think that had any bearing on how the championship ended," said Hamilton.

"If my car hadn’t stopped, then we would have won."

"This year, I don’t think I need to change anything."

"I think it’s quite a bit different to last year, simply because last year we came here and I’d had one bad race, so it was all a bit hectic and the pressure of being at the last race etc. was upon me and perhaps it got to me."

"But this year I feel it’s just another race and we’ve come from a great race in China and I know here that we will be just as strong, if not a little bit stronger."

Remember to tune in to, what promises to be a fantastic race and season close.  Weather reports are suggesting there is a 30-40% chance of rain for the weekend.