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.
