Felipe Massa says he is heading to his home Grand Prix in Brazil next weekend with his sights firmly set on victory - even though teammate Kimi Raikkonen is still battling for the world championship.
The Ferrari driver thinks it would be wrong for him to approach the weekend thinking only of supporting Raikkonen's title situation - and he believes the Finn's hopes will be best served if the pair dominate from the front.
Writing on his official blog, Massa said that he was determined to end the season on a high, despite having dropped out of the title chase.
"If you look at all the elements of my season, the pace I showed, the results I obtained, the wins, then the overall outcome was a positive one, even without the title," said Massa.
"Now, I say to myself let's try and finish the championship in a fantastic way.
"The fact I will not be fighting for the title does not really change anything for me about my home race. It is a very important race for me on a personal level and we need to do the best we can to win, as I do in every race.
"But this is my home race and the final one of the year which adds something to it. Once the season has come to an end, it will be time to focus already on next year and to concentrate on starting and finishing the 2008 championship at the right level.
"At Interlagos, I will be trying to win the race. For sure, Kimi still has a chance of winning the championship, even if it is a small one and it will be difficult.
"My personal target is victory, but if we see any possibility of helping the team to win the driver's title, then of course I will be doing what I can.
"But this is not the way to approach the race weekend. The best way to approach it is to do what I have done at every race which is to think in terms of winning the race. If the miracle happens and maybe both McLarens are nowhere, then me and Kimi could finish first and second respectively and still give Ferrari the result it wants.
"There are so many possible permutations of what could happen that it is not worth thinking about all of them now. Of course the team will have done the maths for every possible situation."
Massa believes that qualifying will be crucial to the outcome of the title battle, with so many of this year's races having been won by the man who was first into the first corner.
"As for the racing, obviously the last two Grands Prix in Japan and China were not so great for me," he said. "After the first of those two races, I accepted the fact that I could no longer be in contention for the drivers' title, having to leave the fight to the three guys I have been battling with all year long.
"One aspect that has become ever clearer with every passing race is that qualifying and especially the ability to get a position on the front row of the grid is the most important key to the win this year with everything being so closely matched.
"In the end, neither of those two races produced a nice result, but in the difficult conditions in which they were run, it is always going to be tough with an element of luck playing its part."
The Ferrari driver thinks it would be wrong for him to approach the weekend thinking only of supporting Raikkonen's title situation - and he believes the Finn's hopes will be best served if the pair dominate from the front.
Writing on his official blog, Massa said that he was determined to end the season on a high, despite having dropped out of the title chase.
"If you look at all the elements of my season, the pace I showed, the results I obtained, the wins, then the overall outcome was a positive one, even without the title," said Massa.
"Now, I say to myself let's try and finish the championship in a fantastic way.
"The fact I will not be fighting for the title does not really change anything for me about my home race. It is a very important race for me on a personal level and we need to do the best we can to win, as I do in every race.
"But this is my home race and the final one of the year which adds something to it. Once the season has come to an end, it will be time to focus already on next year and to concentrate on starting and finishing the 2008 championship at the right level.
"At Interlagos, I will be trying to win the race. For sure, Kimi still has a chance of winning the championship, even if it is a small one and it will be difficult.
"My personal target is victory, but if we see any possibility of helping the team to win the driver's title, then of course I will be doing what I can.
"But this is not the way to approach the race weekend. The best way to approach it is to do what I have done at every race which is to think in terms of winning the race. If the miracle happens and maybe both McLarens are nowhere, then me and Kimi could finish first and second respectively and still give Ferrari the result it wants.
"There are so many possible permutations of what could happen that it is not worth thinking about all of them now. Of course the team will have done the maths for every possible situation."
Massa believes that qualifying will be crucial to the outcome of the title battle, with so many of this year's races having been won by the man who was first into the first corner.
"As for the racing, obviously the last two Grands Prix in Japan and China were not so great for me," he said. "After the first of those two races, I accepted the fact that I could no longer be in contention for the drivers' title, having to leave the fight to the three guys I have been battling with all year long.
"One aspect that has become ever clearer with every passing race is that qualifying and especially the ability to get a position on the front row of the grid is the most important key to the win this year with everything being so closely matched.
"In the end, neither of those two races produced a nice result, but in the difficult conditions in which they were run, it is always going to be tough with an element of luck playing its part."
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