"Did you know that Brazil has never actively started a war? Well I didn’t, but I found that fact quite cool. We will see the final showdown of maybe the biggest-ever tyre war in Formula One this weekend at Interlagos, so at least we can say Brazil will end a war!

The tyre war is great – I love it, or I guess it’s more accurate to say it was great. As a test driver it was great to see the tremendous speed increase that made us go quicker with every new tyre development. As a soon-to-be-race driver I hope for good racing, of course, the same as the spectators, so I sincerely hope Max Mosley and F1 are right to adopt a single tyre manufacturer.

Back to Brazil: it is a hard track in many ways and the tyre choice is very difficult. There is a big question mark over how soft you can select the tyre compound, as no one knows how much graining one will find in Brazil. It seems that both tyre manufacturers step into the unknown when selecting the final choice of tyre compound. My guess is we will have lots of variations of compounds – some very optimistic (soft) and some conservative (hard).

That might mix up the field a bit and give the last race a bit of extra spice, especially for the teams who are fighting for the Constructors’ title. I could be wrong, but there just might be a surprise turnaround in one of the World Championships... let’s see.

Brazil is also ultra-hard for the drivers. The amount of laps and g-forces are really high and the track is anti-clockwise, which puts an extra strain on the neck, which is better conditioned to clockwise tracks.

And to top everything, it is very bumpy, which also increases the workload on the neck in a big way. Basically, it’s a killer track on the body and makes the local caipirinhas look like lemon juice! In case you’ve tasted a caipirinha, let me compare one race in Brazil with eight caipirinhas. And if the car is hard to drive, well then that compares to eight caipirinhas on an empty stomach! Just to help you with this scientific comparison – I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking!

The long, uphill straight to the finish line, a sheer power test for the engines, is also a question of how much wing/downforce one should run. However, the infield requires more downforce, so it’s a compromise in terms of the level you run. The infield also needs a good mechanical set up – sometimes a soft set-up works very well, but might compromise you in the first sector with its quick corner section and change of direction.

I will enjoy Brazil, my last Friday test job, which, as well as being important to Williams, is also key to all other Bridgestone runners, as my information also helps the other teams. They watch like hawks to see what my tyres look like after my long runs.

So let’s get ready for Interlagos to see the end of the great tyre war, the showdown for the world Championship crowns and the last Grand Prix for Michael Schumacher.

Samba, samba!”