Hamilton can win title in China

Lewis Hamilton

(GMM) Six points — that's the points advantage Lewis Hamilton needs from the Chinese grand prix to be crowned world champion with one race to spare in Brazil.

Should the McLaren driver manage to extend his current 5-point championship lead to 11 points in Shanghai, he will be guaranteed the drivers' title from Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica.

A ten point advantage going into November's Brazilian grand prix will not necessarily be enough for the 23-year-old, as a points tie with Massa would hand the championship to the local, who has scored 5 wins compared with Hamilton's 4 in 2008.

To pull out 6 points in China, Hamilton would need to win the race while Ferrari's Massa finishes fifth or lower.

If Hamilton is second, Massa needs to be lower than seventh, and a championship-winning third place for the Briton would require Massa, 27, to finish the race out of the points.

"For sure whoever does the best job will finish at the top," Hamilton said on Thursday.

Massa said in Shanghai he is not feeling any extra pressure about the task he faces this weekend.

"My attitude has not really changed now from what it was much earlier in the season and I think it will be the same at the last race," he said.