Not since 1996 has the Woking team gone winless, and Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa will be looking to put that right. The Finn, who lost the 2003 victory in Brazil to
Giancarlo Fisichella after the race was red-flagged, will take comfort in the team's record in South America, where it has won the Brazilian GP four times in eight years. Mika Hakkinen started the ball rolling in 1998 and 1989, while
David Coulthard took the honours in 2001 and Juan Montoya last year, heading a 1-2 in front of Raikkonen. This weekend's race is Raikkonen’s final outing as a
McLaren Mercedes driver, adding extra impetus to his efforts.
“I have always had dramatic races in Brazil, and I guess the track encourages exciting racing," he said, "The atmosphere is always amazing, the Paulistas are crazy and I hope we can put on a great race for them.
"Overtaking is possible here - there are a number of places, but you need good grip to be quick. This will be my final race with Team McLaren Mercedes, and I am, of course, sad to be leaving. We have had some great times together and it would be fantastic to go out with a win. It is going to be tough, but we are all pushing hard to try and make it happen.”
de la Rosa's motivation will come from the hype surrounding
Lewis Hamilton ahead of next season. The Briton is being tipped to partner
Fernando Alonso in 2007, and de la Rosa has one race left to stake a claim to an all-Spanish line-up.
“After the disappointing race we had in Suzuka, I am looking forward to getting back on track and working with the team to finish the year on a high," he said, "The test in
Jerez [last] week has been positive, with a lot of the focus on tyres with Michelin. As a result, we feel confident we will be able to get more out of them at Interlagos.”
McLaren CEO is hoping that the unforeseen circumstances involving the leaders in the most recent couple of races can contrive to give his team that missing win in Brazil.
