Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone does not want to see foul play this weekend when the championship is decided. He stated: "Any hint of foul play will be severely dealt with. The guilty party can expect to be a spectator in the first few rounds in 1998. We will also hit them where it really hurts -- in their wallets -- if they step out of line."

He did add however: "Accidents do occur in the heat of the moment, especially when there is so much at stake. But we don't want them to do anything silly. But past championships (Prost taking off Senna and vice versa, and Schumacher taking off Hill in 1994) have been decided by one driver taking another off and it must not happen again."

Ecclestone doesn't care about who wins the championship: "I'm not bothered who wins the title because whoever clinches the crown will have deserved it. Jacques and Michael have been competitive all season and done a tremendous job making this a fantastic championship. Both have been unlucky. Jacques was penalised for not slowing down in Suzuka while Michael got a ten-second penalty for failing to obey a yellow flag in Austria. He was then taken out by his own brother Ralf in the following race. Things couldn't have worked out better because I really feared Jacques was going to walk it and have everything sewn up by Monza, which would have left four fairly meaningless races. The perfect scenario now is to have them both on the front row of the grid and to see them battling all the way to the chequered flag... fairly."

Technical director of the Ferrari team Ross Brawn has stated that Michael Schumacher deserves to win his third championship.

Brawn simply feels Schumacher is the best driver in the field: "He can slow everything down in the cockpit so that he makes it seem easy, remarkably easy. He can talk to us on the pit-wall as if he is on a Sunday afternoon stroll and make the decisions in a very cool and detached kind of way. He does not get emotional in the car and that is one of the great secrets of his success. He is always under control. That is why he is the best, out on his own."

Bran stated on next weekend: "Michael came to Jerez under pressure and won in 1994 when the circuit was last used for a Formula One race, so that is some kind of advantage. But I don't think it really makes any difference to Michael. It is a track that he enjoys and will feel confident about but, in reality, the great thing about him is that he just does not have any favourite tracks. That is because he is good on all of them -- he is always quick." Brawn did say, in the lines of Ecclestone, that Schumacher will be out there to win it fair: "He will go out to win the race and to do all he can to secure the championship from the front. But if that's not possible, he will work on the best possible strategy to achieve his objective."

"It would be fantastic for me and for the team if we could win the title," Brawn said. "But I am not the most important person, I am just one of the team."

"They like to celebrate their victories in Italy and a championship -- well, it will be interesting to see what happens.... if we can win it. I was fortunate to win two championships with Benetton and one constructors' title and that was fantastic. But to do this with Ferrari, I think, is something else. We will just hope and pray and then go for it -- and see what the result is on Sunday."