Lewis Hamilton is steeling himself for a repeat of last season's final-day title decider.
After his superb British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone on Sunday, Hamilton is back in business in the championship.
At the halfway point of the Formula One season, the McLaren star is level on points with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica is just two points adrift, whilst team-mate Nick Heidfeld arguably cannot be discounted, with the German 12 points off the pace.
It is all poised to go down to the wire again and the last race in Brazil, as it did in October when Hamilton missed out on the title by a point to Raikkonen.
"I can only guess, but I am sure it will be a lot like last year," said Hamilton, assessing how the remainder of the championship will unfold.
"Last year it was just as close between the top three drivers, and there was one point separating us at the end."
"So I can only assume it will be at the last race again. I hope it's not, but ..."
But for a rollercoaster ride of a season, Hamilton appreciates he could easily have been out in front.
Although the 23-year-old has won in Australia, Monaco and Britain, he has failed to score points in Bahrain, Canada and France.
A 10-place grid penalty in Magny-Cours for running into the back of Raikkonen in Montreal compromised a race in which he also received a drive-through penalty.
"Somehow I've been very strong on the most challenging races this year," added Hamilton, fastest in practice at Hockenheim over the last two days ahead of next weekend's German Grand Prix.
"But even if you look at Montreal, we were blindingly quick there and it is just a shame we didn't win."
"We clearly had the quicker car. If I hadn't crashed in Montreal then we would have won the race."
"We would have gone to Magny-Cours without the 10-place penalty and we probably would have finished in the top three."
"The championship positions would have been different, but that is just the way racing is and that's what makes thing exciting."
"To be honest I think we've been very, very consistent all year. I don't have an excuse or a reason for why it has been up and down."
"But you can't just have a perfect year. You don't have perfect years."
"There are lots of different things and problems that crop up, and as you saw Ferrari had their problems at the last race. But then we have had our fair share."
With Hamilton battling Massa and Raikkonen, he is now looking to his own team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to help him fight the Ferraris.
"I think it's an advantage having two drivers (from the same team) fighting for the world championship," said Hamilton.
"At the end of the day it pushes them towards the constructors' championship. It can't be bad for them."
When asked whether he was hoping Massa and Raikkonen would take points off one another, he replied: "Not really."
"I'm more hoping Heikki takes more points off them than anything else."
"But we're all on equal paths at the moment. We are definitely into the back nine and it's very important we continue to score points."