Felipe Massa takes pole for Sao Paulo showdown

Nov 2 2008 By Bill Mcintyre In Sao Paulo

FELIPE MASSA bagged pole for today's Sao Paulo showdown and then cranked up the heat on title rival Lewis Hamilton by warning - "The pressure is all on you."

The Ferrari star produced a stunning lap when he needed it most to give himself the perfect launchpad to snatch the World Championship from his McLaren rival's grasp.

Sitting seven points behind Hamilton heading into today's final race in Brazil, Massa produced the goods in front of his home fans in qualifying.

He left Hamilton trailing by half a second - with the McLaren ace a lowly fourth behind Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Massa needs a top-two finish to have any chance of title glory and after bagging pole he is now a big favourite to take the chequered flag today.

And the 27-year-old believes it is now all a question of where Hamilton finishes.

He said: "I know what I have to do. This is my home race and I am not going to change my approach.

"The pressure is all on his shoulders because I have nothing to lose.

"I'm second in the championship and as I've said many times it is not all down to us as to what happens so the pressure is all on him."

Hamilton, who blew the chance to win the title in the final race in Brazil last season, attempted to play down one of his poorest qualifying runs of the season.

And the 23-year-old Brit is adamant he will get the job done this time.

He said: "I will be focusing on my own race.

"It will be a tough afternoon but I'm comfortable with the fuel strategy we have.

"The guys in front are probably on a different strategy but we're in a good position to finish in the same place as we did in qualifying.

"That has to be our aim. We don't need to do anything spectacular."

Scotland's David Coulthard starts his last ever Formula One race in 14 place in his Red Bull while fellow Brit Jenson Button is in 17th spot in his Honda.