Schumacher & Hamilton

amilton's strong points position reduces his vulnerability to Ferrari tactics.

In theory, Ferrari could use Raikkonen to "back up" Hamilton in a way that is advantageous for Massa.

That basically means that if the Finn got in front of the McLaren, he could drive deliberately slowly enough to mess up Hamilton's race.he team employed this tactic with great success in Malaysia in 1999 to ensure the title battle between Ferrari's Eddie Irvine and McLaren's Mika Hakkinen went to the last race.

Michael Schumacher rode shotgun for Irvine, gifting the Northern Irishman the win and making Hakkinen's race a total misery with some pretty dubious behaviour.

Whether Raikkonen would be prepared to go as far as Schumacher, however, is another matter.

For one thing, it is just not his style to drive unfairly. He's hard, but not unfair - which is not something you could say about Schumacher.

For another, it is debatable how much - deep down - he really wants Massa to be champion. Although if you are paid $50m (£30.7m) a year, your employer might expect you to swallow a few things you don't like.

At the same time, Massa will be aware that if Hamilton fails to finish in Brazil, his task gets easier.

Schumacher famously took Damon Hill out to win the title in 1994, and tried unsuccessfully to do the same to Jacques Villeneuve in 1997.

It is unlikely Massa would follow the German's lead - he and Hamilton have a reasonable relationship off the track, and it does not seem to be Massa's style.

All the same, it would be a good idea for Hamilton to avoid situations where he would be vulnerable to that sort of thing.

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It is an open secret that Hamilton is not hugely popular among his fellow Formula One drivers.

Part of that is undoubtedly to do with his success and talent - as our columnist Mark Webber put it last week, "people inevitably get jealous".

But the other drivers' beef with Hamilton goes beyond that.

It is also to do with how he carries himself. Several of his rivals have detected more than a hint of arrogance about Hamilton in the way he views them and himself.

That explains why so few have been willing to defend him when he has got into trouble in recent weeks - most notably following his penalties in Belgium and China.

This is a potential concern for Hamilton.

It is not that anyone would deliberately take Hamilton out, but nor are many of the drivers going to feel well disposed to making his life easy in Brazil.