Hamilton's bid to become the youngest world champion in Formula One history is likely to rest on the outcome of the charge down towards the first corner Senna S at Interlagos.

If Hamilton can emerge unscathed then there is every chance he will claim the fifth place or higher he needs from the Brazilian Grand Prix to take the title.

The problem is Hamilton starts in traffic as he could only claim fourth on the grid at the end of a qualifying session in which title rival Felipe Massa grabbed his third successive pole at this circuit.

Ahead of him are Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Massa's Ferrari team-mate in outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen, but lurking directly behind him is Alonso.

Earlier this week the Spaniard, who endured a contentious year at McLaren last season when he fell out with Hamilton and boss Dennis, made clear his feelings.

Whilst he insisted he had no quarrel with Hamilton, he stated he would rather see any team other than McLaren take the title.

"I'm not thinking about it," insisted Hamilton when asked if he was worried about his former team-mate

"I know it's going to be tough at the start, but we just have to respect one another. We're all drivers.

"If I get a bad start then I expect him to challenge me, otherwise I will do the best job I can to stay ahead.

"And no, I'm not worried about him doing anything. His comment was about the team.

"I just have to make sure I don't take any unnecessary risks, so again I'm not worried about the start."

Dennis, meanwhile, has urged every other driver, not just Alonso, to keep it clean and let Hamilton and Massa compete for the title.

"To determine the world champion, this season has again gone down to the last grand prix, which is a good thing," said Dennis.

"These guys should be given every opportunity to try and beat each other, and therefore I hope all drivers are very clean.

"I hope they appreciate that their role is to allow these guys to fight fairly and not interfere with the world championship.

"That applies to everybody, including Heikki (Kovalainen) and Kimi. That's my wish.

"I hope whoever is the world champion that the championship is not soured by the behaviour of any other driver."

Hamilton insists his fourth place "is not a bad position to start from," in particular as Massa and Trulli appear to be on a three-stop strategy.

Hamilton added: "We're on the second row, and it's still a strong position to challenge for a win if we need to.

"But there is no rush to jump ahead. We will run the race the way we can and see if we can make up some places, otherwise we will do the best job we can to maintain our position.

"Although the strategy we have chosen was perhaps not the best for qualifying, tomorrow is when you get points, not today.

"All I have to do now is stay relaxed, turn up tomorrow with a clear head and try and do a good job."

Preparing for the flak that could fly if Hamilton fails again to win the title, Dennis maintains his team could not have done any more to try to avoid such a disastrous scenario.

"We have used the last two weeks to run every possible scenario we could think of," remarked Dennis.

"I can say, whatever the outcome, if our car fails in any shape or form - and obviously I don't want that to happen - no more effort could have been put into avoiding it.

"The point one five of a second (0.15secs) we have improved the car from the last race to here has been the most expensive tenth we have ever, ever produced.

"We have thrown everything at this race, and to get that out of the development programme has taken a Herculean effort.

"We can't have made the car faster, put more effort into making it more reliable, or into trying to accommodate whatever the race throws at us tomorrow.

"If we fail, you (the media) will be critical, and I know I have set myself up by my comments here.

"But the one thing we will not be doing is going away from here saying 'we screwed up' because we could not have put more effort into avoiding it."