Mario James, Freelance Writer

WHAT A season it has been! Action off and on the track, 'Stepney-gate,' fingers pointing everywhere and tales of skullduggery, misinformation and mayhem.

A two-time world champion being outshone by a rookie whose driving skills are already being compared to the likes of Senna, Prost and Schumacher; a raw rookie who has shown so much race-craft and maturity that he has been able to rattle said champion on the track, forcing him into unforced errors and mistakes of judgement. But it was Lewis Hamilton's mistake of judgement that has allowed the staging of the most anticipated Formula One season ender since 1986. Inexperience, so far Hamilton's only visible Achilles heel, reared its ugly head two weeks ago at Shanghai. He stayed out too long on the intermediates and watched his probable outright win dissolve as he drummed his steering wheel, disgusted with himself after skidding into a gravel trap while traversing pit lane.

Still, showing great resolve after his first real mistake of the season, he has been quoted on www.formula1.com as saying "Some drivers would be on the back foot, but I've taken the negatives and made them into positives ... I've got a lot of confidence in myself. It has to be a hard hit knowing the world championship was there and I didn't take it but it's still there to win. In spite of having a DNF in China I'm still in the lead and I've still got a good chance of winning so I'm feeling pretty cool as I'm in the best position to do that. I'm mentally stronger after the weekend in China."

pressure

Still, the pressure on Hamilton to succeed must be stifling. He carries the weight of an entire race on that helmet and has a chance today in Brazil of winning what is probably the most technologically advanced, most concentration intensive sport in the world. He must finish second or first to win the championship. More permutations exist, but second will do it, even if Fernando Alonso wins. An outright win for Hamilton would be icing on the cake. A lot of the folks around this blue ball want him to lose.

And yet, at least to this writer, he has done what has been asked of him. He has done his best without knowing what his limits are. Who can forget his passing the Iceman, Michael Schumacher's heir apparent, at Monza, Ferrari's home track? Or the back-to-back wins at Canada and at Indy, where he foiled Alonso's passing theatrics on the back straight? He has already delivered on Ron Dennis's mandate.

At the start of the season, it was teammate Alonso that was expected to produce and there was no pressure. Hamilton was just supposed to ride the learning curve. But he was competitive from the get go. Now the pressure cooker's on and the weight has started to shimmy.

The law of averages has started to shift to the other foot and I fear that Lewis's car will give trouble at Interlagos, what with the FIA 'getting involved' with making sure that the playing field is 'level', as far as equipment is concerned. Run your race, Lewis. Just run your race.