Raikkonen: Nothing to lose

The 27-year-old Finn's victory in China was his fifth of the year and saw him close to within seven points of Britain's Lewis Hamilton in the championship battle and three of Fernando Alonso with just one race to go.

It puts him in a similar position to the one his was in two years ago, when he arrived at Interlagos two years ago, when he trailed Alonso, then in a Renault, by 25 points and needed to win to keep his title dreams alive.

"I think I'm in a few points' better position right now, otherwise I don't think there's much difference," the Ferrari driver said.

"[I'm in a] different team but anything can happen, we just need to try to win the race and then see what happens to the others, same as we did here.

"I'm not really thinking about it too much. I'll just go there and do the same as here, or at least try to do so. We will see what we can do."

If Raikkonen wins the race he needs Alonso to be no higher than third and Hamilton no higher than sixth in order to claim the title, and even then he would only be crowned by virtue of having won more races than the others, as they would all be equal on points.

His Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa said he would do all he could to help Raikkonen's title push, even if it means sacrificing a win in his home race.

"If Kimi has a chance during the race to win the championship, I think it's very good for the team and I would also be very happy to help the team," the Brazilian said on Sunday.

"If maybe Lewis or Fernando are in the middle and we have no chance, I will try to win the race."