Felipe Massa could not have made his intentions for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix any clearer.

"I expect to win the race," he said after arriving at Interlagos on Thursday. "I see myself taking points from other drivers who are fighting for the championship."

Given his recent record at his home track, Massa has every reason to bang the drum for his side of the Ferrari garage.

He has started his last three races at Interlagos on pole. He has won twice and sacrificed another certain victory in 2007 to allow former team-mate Kimi Raikkonen through to become world champion ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who was then at McLaren.

Last year, he did not race here as he was still recovering from the accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix in which he fractured his skull.

But he did attend the race, and waved the chequered flag at Mark Webber, who pulled off a commanding win for Red Bull which then became lost among Jenson Button's championship celebrations.

Massa is not alone in talking up his chances on Sunday.

In the words of a rival team principal very much in the title hunt: "Massa could be the joker this weekend. He's strong here."

But then came the put-down which will be forever aimed in his direction because of that now-infamous team radio message - "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?" - during July's German Grand Prix.

Massa has not enjoyed the best of seasons. Photo: Getty Images

"Massa, winning this weekend? No chance! With Alonso going for the title, there can only be one Ferrari winner," said the same source.

Nevertheless, Massa, who claimed that it was his decision to move aside to let his team-mate win in Germany, could find himself a key player.

The furore over Ferrari's team orders at Hockenheim - the sport's biggest headline story of the season, with a review of the ban pending at the end of the year - has given an extra edge to this dramatic five-way title contest.

If Massa turns in a strong front-running performance here, that could force some tough calls on the team bosses at Red Bull and McLaren, who still have both their drivers in the championship mix.

After Mark Webber's spiky rebuke to Red Bull over a perceived lack of equal treatment with Sebastian Vettel, that pit-wall group will certainly be one to watch.

For Ferrari, with only Alonso in contention, there's one less complication - and a simple strategy to follow.

If Massa is in a position to help the team achieve their goal - Alonso becoming world champion - they expect him to do so. Remember, Alonso is the only driver who can wrap up the title on Sunday.

With Alonso joining the team for 2010, Ferrari chose to keep faith with Massa despite uncertainty over his recovery from his accident and instead to pay off Raikkonen a year before his contract expired. Massa will be expected to repay that loyalty.

Massa himself was quick to remind the media on Thursday about how he had served the team interest here by helping the Finn to the title three years ago.

How he executes any repeat manoeuvre this year - with the furore over team orders still in the forefront of everyone's minds, and in front of a home crowd angered by his subservience in Germany - remains to be seen.

But the more immediate question is whether Massa will be competitive enough to play his supporting role this weekend.

Are we going to see the Massa who out-qualified Alonso in Turkey and Belgium and who launched himself so decisively into the lead from row two at Hockenheim?

Or will he produce another like at the last race in Korea, where the gap to his team-mate was little short of a second, the biggest of the year?

I understand that Massa's race engineer, Rob Smedley, with whom he has such a strong partnership, was so frustrated by his driver's efforts in Korean qualifying that he let him stew overnight before discussing the session or race strategy.

That cold shoulder treatment apparently had the desired impact on race day, when Massa did not put a wheel wrong in the tricky wet conditions.

As you will see in the interviews with the pair in the BBC One qualifying show on Saturday, Massa draws great strength from Smedley's expertise.

"He's always telling me things I need to do, he knows what I'm thinking," reveals Massa.
"He can make me drive faster."

Sir Jackie Stewart, who rated Massa's drives last year before his accident as his best, believes the 29-year-old has yet to come to terms with Alonso's superiority within the team and the fall-out from Hockenheim.

"I have to believe that Alonso went to Ferrari as number one, either written or agreed," he said.

"That result in Germany was a huge disappointment. But I suspect Alonso would have driven away anyway if he'd got past because he'd been quicker all weekend.

"And Massa will continue to lose out if his own performance is not good enough."

That view holds water among some within Ferrari who feel that Massa has not done himself justice this season because he has been unsettled by Alonso's pace.
The Spaniard has been consistently faster in qualifying, with his average advantage slightly more than 0.3 seconds.

There was friction between the pair after the Australian Grand Prix when Alonso felt Massa had cost him victory by needlessly holding him up. And that culminated in Massa's blatant switch of positions in Germany.

If the Brazilian is going to redeem himself in the eyes of his public, he will need better reliability than he had in second practice today when his car stopped on the track with a gearbox problem. It cost him almost half an hour's running time.

Because of his extensive experience of this track, that may not prove as damaging as Red Bull's early demonstration of impressive performance.

Ferrari and McLaren typically come on stronger in races, and their extra speed down the two long straights could counter Red Bull's pace through the in-field section of this bowl-like circuit.

But if Massa's confidence is stuttering and the conditions are unpredictable - heavy rain, like last year, is forecast for qualifying - he may find himself playing catch-up on the title contenders he's meant to be beating. Just like he has done all year.

And despite those best intentions, his team-mate will be left to take the fight to the front on his own.

Go on, admit it. How many of you were tipping Mark Webber for the 2010 world championship at the start of the year?

Hugely popular, massively likeable, a sports nut who's as happy to shoot the breeze about Didier Drogba, Lance Armstrong or Ricky Ponting as he is to talk about Fernando Alonso, Adrian Newey or Bernie Ecclestone.

But Jenson Button's successor as the next Formula 1 champion? Alonso, Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel maybe, but not the 34-year-old Australian who had only won his first grand prix in 2009.

With three races remaining, however, which driver has led the most laps this season, led the championship for the most races and currently enjoys the biggest points advantage over his four rivals he has had all season?

F1 has learned this year how much this one-time Minardi backmarker has been under-estimated.

Webber himself would never tell you that because it's not his style to blow his own trumpet. Action not words is how he chooses to operate.

But he's well aware that this could be his one and only chance of emulating fellow countrymen Sir Jack Brabham - his father Alan's motor-racing idol - and Alan Jones in achieving motorsport's highest honour.

And he knows there are plenty of people waiting to see if he really is made of the right stuff to withstand the pressure from the more recognised contenders - his team-mate Vettel, Ferrari's Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - and make it a hat-trick of Australian champions.

To the doubters, the last two races showed that Webber had lost the mid-season momentum that had propelled him so forcefully to the front of the grid.

They believe they detect that the balance of power within Red Bull has shifted significantly towards Vettel.

Singapore and Japan were both labelled as Red Bull-friendly tracks but Vettel came out on top of the in-house battle.

The German out-qualified Webber at both circuits, and then out-scored him in both races.

The nightmare for Webber is that if Vettel beats him into second place here in Korea and again in Brazil, the pair would be tied on points heading into the final event in Abu Dhabi but Vettel would lead the title race for the first time this season because he would have won five races to Webber's four.

And, say the Webber doubters with a note of triumph, remember that Vettel won at Yas Marina last year.

So, they say, it's the dream ticket for Red Bull, then - the team's star young driver will graduate to become F1 champion.

None of this is new to Webber, nor will it cut any ice with him. He needs no reminding of his challenge.

This is a man whose website records his greatest achievement in motorsport so far as "getting into Formula 1 because the odds were stacked against us".

To emphasise the point, he's taken inspiration this week from a book, Don't Die With The Music On.

Written by one of Australia's most successful rugby league coaches, Wayne Bennett, it's all about making the most of your potential.

While preparing back home in Australia last week, he also spent time with two Aussie sporting greats, Ponting and Pat Rafter.

If Webber had heard Michael Schumacher talking about him on Thursday, he would probably have nodded in agreement.

"He has improved massively," said the seven-time champion in a BBC interview.

"Looking at his results, the way he drives and his consistency, I'm very much impressed with him."

"You'd rather be ahead than be behind."

Webber's team-mate at Williams during the 2005 season, Nick Heidfeld, is another who has noticed how his performances have stepped up this year.

The five championship contenders pose in Korea ahead of this weekend's grand prix. Photo: Getty

"He's made a good improvement in his racing because he was already strong in qualifying," said Heidfeld.

"If you look at the guys in the championship, he's done the least amount of mistakes. He seems to cope well with the pressure. He's doing a really good job and I'd still back him (for the title)."

Ah yes, pressure.

The charge that Webber cannot handle it was levelled at him after his ragged performance in Australia, where he ended up crashing into Lewis Hamilton.

His mistake off pole position in the next race in Malaysia to let Vettel through on the inside of the first corner - the move that decided the race in Vettel's favour - was picked on as another example of his fragility when the heat was on.

But Webber will tell you himself that he needed no public dressing down. He knew he'd got things wrong, and his results since then have proved the point.

Apart from that terrifying high-flying accident in Valencia when he misjudged his distance to Heikki Kovalainen - his only retirement this year - he's made none of the errors that have afflicted Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton.

Webber's team boss, Christian Horner, has been quick to reject criticism that Webber's been feeling the pressure of the run-in like Jenson Button did last year.

"You never saw Jenson on the podium in the second half of the season," Horner said.
"Mark, though, has been consistently running at the front. He has the character, like Sebastian, to deal with the situation."

Much might be read into Webber's spin in second practice in Korea. But he explained it calmly as a balance issue on the softer tyre and then proceeded to set the fastest time.

"We're in the hunt, mate," was his succinct summary of his track debut in Korea.

But he appreciates that he must check Vettel's resurgence, and the sooner the better.

"I win the next two races, it's all over. I'm doing my best then hopefully the rest will take care of itself," he said on Thursday, well aware of what his 14-point advantage means.

Vettel has admitted he's felt much more comfortable in the car since new software was installed to enable smoother power delivery through the double diffuser to accelerate out of corners.

It means that Webber has lost the little edge over his team-mate that he'd previously enjoyed when it was more driver-reliant.

Now he has to dig deeper again to repeat the sort of qualifying fliers that earned him pole in Spain, Monaco and Spa, thereby putting pressure on his team-mate to do the chasing and the overtaking which doesn't always seem to come naturally to him.

Red Bull insist both drivers will receive equal backing as they home in on the constructors' championship which they could clinch for the first time this weekend if they take another one-two finish and McLaren fail to score.

As far as the drivers' title goes, Webber will take nothing for granted after so much misfortune in previous years.

Always learning, always improving is another of his mottos.

After his worst run of results in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton came to Suzuka looking for a strong start to a weekend that could make or break his challenge for the world championship.

If you think that sounds a touch melodramatic, then bear in mind the words of one McLaren leading official who told me on Thursday evening: "If he fails to score here, it's game over."

Having failed to finish three of his last four races and watched Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso overtake him in the standings, the last thing the 2008 champion needed was an early accident in practice.

But halfway through the first session, on his first proper run of the day, that's exactly what happened.

He locked up his front right wheel heading into the second right-hander at Degner,thought he could catch the car but ended up bumping along the tyre wall and ripping off his front left wheel as well as damaging the McLaren's new rear wing.

Hamilton emerged unscathed but his distress was evident as he leaned back in the shadows under the bridge below the 130R corner. After looking steadfastly ahead, his helmet then slumped forward as if he was consumed by disappointment and disbelief.

He managed to avoid the television cameras and photographers awaiting his return in the paddock by taking a back entrance but you could see he had a face like thunder when he eventually appeared and marched into the back of the garage.

The big concern was that the chassis would need replacing, which would have ruled him out of the entire second session.

As it was, the repairs were so extensive - new gearbox, floor, and front and rear wings - and took so long that Hamilton was able to complete just four timed laps on the track in the dry.

That was crucial for race set-up because heavy rain is expected throughout Saturday, which would throw a whole set of variables into final practice and qualifying.

Hamilton is aware that could level the playing field and, depending on how severe the conditions are, the lost time could be rendered irrelevant, at least in terms of grid position.

But his reluctant, smiling admission after practice that he was "probably pushing too hard" en route to his crash will be seized on by his critics as another example of his excessive aggression behind the wheel costing him his title chances.

Indeed, that opinion was already being voiced in the paddock. "I see Hamilton and McLaren are throwing it away again under pressure," said a rival technical director.

Collisions in Monza and Singapore, and this latest incident certainly don't help his cause.

With only four races remaining, now is the wrong time for Hamilton to start making mistakes like Alonso, Webber and Sebastian Vettel have done earlier in the season.

Unlike in Melbourne, Valencia and Spa - when Hamilton found trouble but came through it - he's currently being punished for the sort of bold moves that make you look a hero when they work, and a novice when they don't.

Had he backed off and played the percentage game, say his critics, he would still be leading the championship. Understandably, Hamilton doesn't accept that view, and will continue driving as only he knows how.

"The fact is I'm not going to drive around in the position I was in and hope to finish the race. That's never been in me," he said in a BBC interview to be broadcast during the BBC One qualifying show.

"I want to fight for a win and I hope people respect that. Sometimes it is too aggressive and that's why it catches you out."

"Every now and then, you try to pull it back a bit and hope it works. Fingers crossed this weekend will be an improvement to say the least."

So far, not so good.

At a demanding track where he has raced just once - in 2009 - he has hardly scratched the surface of the programme that he and his engineers hoped to complete.

But his performance last year, finishing third, was one of his finest drives and is reason for optimism within the team.

"He likes it here, loves the track and will be competitive," said one engineer. "You can't take away what makes him the champion that he is."

Hamilton also received support from a rival team principal involved in the title battle.

"You must try to get your drivers as calm as possible, but it in the end it doesn't matter what you say to them because as soon as they get on the track, it all goes out of their heads," he said.

Another criticism levelled at Hamilton is that he's missing a management figure in a role previously filled by his father.

One team manager told me that Hamilton would benefit from having an independent sounding board outside the team environment, somebody on hand with advice on when to push and when to take it calmly.

McLaren's team principal Martin Whitmarsh would dispute that.

He made a point of sitting down with Hamilton after Monza and Singapore to discuss both incidents. And he did the same again after Friday's crash.

It's a point picked up by one last year's title contenders, Rubens Barrichello.

"The mental preparation is so important, more important at this stage than the driving," Barrichello said.

"He's clearly got the team support in a good way. But I'm not sure he has the car."

And there's the rub for Hamilton.

He acknowledges that the team are working flat out to improve the car. Another new rear wing is arriving overnight in time for qualifying, with engineers happy that the upgrade added performance.

But he knows, just like McLaren know, that Red Bull remains the fastest car. Ferrari have been quicker too.

So if he's to achieve a second world title, he needs something special from within himself to make up for a lack of performance.

"We've been over-delivering for a long period of time during the year," he said.

"We've not been at the front where we've been absolutely faster than everybody else. We've just done generally better jobs than other teams."

"Clearly now it's down to pace as well as no mistakes, and hoping that we're edging ourselves closer to the others."

Suzuka has decided some classic title contests. Hamilton has to believe - and demonstrate - that he's not about to be counted out this weekend.