TOKYO - Championship leader Lewis Hamilton hopes to extend his lead over rival Felipe Massa at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday (12:01 a.m. ET).
The McLaren driver looked set to win last year's F1 drivers' title in his first season after winning at a rain-soaked Fuji Speedway, but relinquished his 12-point lead in the final two races.
"I feel a lot stronger this year than I did at this time last year," Hamilton said Wednesday. "We have three races left and we'll do everything we can as a team to come out on top."
Hamilton, with 84 points, holds a seven-point lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa and another win in Japan would put the British driver in a position to clinch the championship next week at Shanghai.
Massa, coming off a disastrous 13th-place finish at Singapore last month, said he's not ready to concede anything.
"We are seven points behind but there are 30 points in front of us so we will fight to the last lap of the last race," the Brazilian said.
In Singapore, the Ferrari driver pulled away from a pit stop prematurely, taking the fuel rig and hose with him up the pit lane. Massa subsequently dropped from the lead to 18th and last place, then incurred a drive-through penalty for an "unsafe release from a pit stop."
Massa's Ferrari teammate and defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen is looking to end his run of four races without points, while denying Hamilton a chance to build on his lead.
"It hasn't been the type of season I was expecting," Raikkonen said. "Things started out OK, but the last four or five races have not been good. For myself, it is more or less over but I'll do the best for the team."
Raikkonen is 27 points behind Hamilton. BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica is third in the standings with 64 points, 20 behind Hamilton.
Last year's race was hampered by heavy rain and organizers say while there may be wet weather for Saturday's qualifying, the forecast was more promising for Sunday's race.
