Steve Matchett: It would make for a most unexpected end to this season if the two McLaren chaps took each other out with some stupid horseplay and we saw Kimi’s Ferrari slip between the pair of them and disappear into the sunset to clinch his first drivers’ championship ... and I’m not ruling anything out after the quirks of this most bizarre season.
Bob Varsha: I’d have to say Hamilton has the advantage. Despite his disaster in China, he still has that 4-point lead over teammate Fernando Alonso, and 7 over Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. If you told Lewis back in March that he’d be in this position come October, I bet he’d have taken it gladly. All he needs in Brazil is a high points finish, and he has produced those in spades in this, his rookie season. In fact, I was astonished that he and the McLaren team raced as hard as they did in China, because they didn’t need to. I’m guessing they won’t make that mistake again.
Peter Windsor: I think the chasee (Lewis Hamilton) has the harder job – if only because Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso know exactly what they have to do – i.e., win the
race. There is another thing, though: the McLaren situation is complicated massively by the FIA factor – by which I mean the FIA’s insistence that they will be “ensuring” that both VMM drivers are treated equally in every respect. Although I have no doubt that McLaren would do this anyway, and that their record proves this, what we’re actually talking about is the FIA ensuring that Fernando – their “adopted son”, post-Stepneygate – is not compromised in any way. We have seen from Fernando’s behavior in both Japan and China that he is quite ready to raise his hand if Lewis deigns to be faster or better organized (as he usually is). This is a huge, massive burden for Lewis to carry – let alone for the team to have to worry about -- and I think it could be their undoing. While no one will apparently care if Felipe Massa Massa magically slows in the closing stages of Brazil to give the necessary points to Kimi, everyone will be focused on McLaren. That makes the weekend much easier for Ferrari.
