Kimi Raikkonen said he had nothing to lose and everything to gain after winning Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix and setting up a three-way showdown for Formula One title.
For the second time in his career, the Finn will go into the final race of the season as underdog with seemingly only a slim chance of winning the championship.
The last time that happened was when Raikkonen was at McLaren in 2003 and needed Ferrari's Michael Schumacher to draw a blank in Japan.
In the end, he finished second while his great German rival limped home eighth and took the title by two points.
This time, in Brazil on October 21, Raikkonen will be in the red car chasing the McLarens and with Briton Lewis Hamilton and double world champion Fernando Alonso in his sights.
Hamilton has 107 points after his first retirement of the season in Shanghai, Alonso has closed the gap to 103 and Raikkonen is third with 100.
"It's going to be very difficult to catch him [Hamilton] but there's one race to go," said Raikkonen, whose victory in Shanghai was Ferrari's 200th and 14th of his career.
"I don't have anything to lose, so we keep pushing and see what we can do in the last race. Similar things can happen, so there is still hope. We will see."
Ferrari were dominant in Sao Paulo last year with Raikkonen's Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa winning at Interlagos and will fancy their chances of ending the year with a one-two.
After that, it depends on the McLaren drivers' ability to stay on the track.
"Hopefully the car will be good and it will be an interesting battle the whole weekend," said Raikkonen.
"It's not up to us only...but anything can happen. We are in a better position than coming here but it will still be very difficult."
