The 2008 Formula one season is almost over, only one race and a few very important issues to finalize before we say goodbye to F1 as we know it, one of those issues being the winner of this year’s drivers crown. Two men are in contention and whoever wins will be taking their maiden championship crown. Seven points is the difference, with ten points left on offer.

So, who will it be? Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa? We will know the answer to this question is just a few short days time, but until then, here the two contenders are asked some questions they do know the answers to…

We have heard about the pressure. Going back to the early part of your career, how does that pressure when you were eight years old weigh up to the pressure you are feeling now?

LEWIS HAMILTON: For me I think it quite similar to every championship you do. For me it is just another race, that’s the way to approach it to myself and that’s how I did it in the past. It is exciting. Everyone enjoys the last race, for sure. It is great for the spectators, it is great for the fans, for the media, for the team, for everyone. We will give it the best shot we can as a team collectively and hopefully we can come out on top.

FELIPE MASSA: I think it is very similar. When you are racing it doesn’t matter whether you are in Formula One or in go-karts, whatever category you are. When you get inside the car you are thinking about racing. You are not thinking I am in Formula One, it is the most important motorsport. You don’t think about that, you think about racing. You think about doing your best and fighting, so for me it is exactly the same fighting for the championship in Formula One or for victory or whatever if you are fighting in a go-kart. When you are in a go-kart you want to win. It is your dream. Your motivation is to win that race or that championship. You don’t think about Formula One as you live for that moment. That’s why it is the same now. You want to win now. For sure, you have much more expectation and pressure but when you are driving you don’t think about that.

What does it mean to have your families with you? What do you draw from them?

FELIPE MASSA: I think having the family together is very important. I have always had my family together in my career. In go-kart and the other categories it was a little bit more difficult as I didn’t have so much money for them to go to the race. But at least I always had them very close to me, talking on the phone almost every day. I think it is very important as when you are happy in your private life, when you have a good family, I think it makes your professional life even better. When you get inside the car you don’t put in all the problems that you have outside. I think it is always very nice. They don’t come to every race but they come a lot and I feel very happy. For sure I don’t follow so much the advice from my mum, otherwise I would go very slow!

LEWIS HAMILTON: I think as you can see I always have my family with me. I always have a part of my family with me and I know I have all my family’s support and that is what is important. I know they are proud of me and they have worked just as hard as I have to get me here today. So when I come here it is not about me, it is about us as a team together. They pretty much come to all the races, not so much the international races as it is lot of time for my brother off school. Without my family I would not be here today, so it is great we are able to share the experience throughout the season.

What do you think of this particular track and how is it for your car?

LEWIS HAMILTON: I love this track. It has always been one I’ve liked. I think I learnt it from a computer game years and years ago, me and my brother used to play it. Just watching it over the years it was always a spectacular race to watch whether it was raining or whether it was dry. When I came here last year and actually drove the circuit it feels like a real racing circuit. It is quite bumpy in some areas, it has got a nice combination of corners. It is not too long but it is not too short. It has a great long straight, so there are areas to overtake. It really has a lot of character. We don’t really see too many circuits like this which have so much character, so I like it.

FELIPE MASSA: Well, first of all this (circuit) is part of my story. I started here, I grew up in this area. I started when I was eight over the other side, at the go-kart track, and I started my career in open-wheelers here in ’98. I love the circuit. It’s a very special circuit for me. It’s a circuit that, as Lewis said, gives you a lot of pleasure to drive. Always when you are at home and you have a nice circuit to drive, you always have extra motivation, extra good energy, so I think it’s even nicer to race here at Interlagos, so let’s try to do a great job.

I think our car can be quite strong here, because in the past we were very strong here. If you look at this season, on some tracks we were stronger, some tracks McLaren was stronger. We were struggling a lot at Hockenheim, for example, and they were very quick, but we were very quick at the next race, so I don’t think that because China wasn’t a great performance for us that here it will be the same. I think this is a track that suits our car quite well. We like to race with these tyres, so I think we can be very strong.

LEWIS HAMILTON: I feel the same.