Sauber to take battle to Mercedes

With two races in the Formula One World Championship still to go, there's still an awful lot of personal battles to be won up and down the grid.

Right from the top end of the paddock, the battle between Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for the F1 drivers title, right through to the back end of the grid and the constructors battle between Marussia and Caterham over the crucial 10th place and the financial rewards that position brings to the newbie teams of Formula One.

In the mid-pack there is also another constructors tussle in the middle of a fierce battle.

Whilst all the other positions have all but been settled, fifth place is still very much up for grabs.

Mercedes currently occupy the slot, but with a hypothetical 86 points still available, their 12 point advantage is slender.

Realistically Sauber need a podium finish to give themselves a chance at taking fifth place, although two results like in Yas Marina where Kamui Kobayashi finished sixth and Mercedes failed to score any points would also see Sauber leapfrog Mercedes in Brazil.

'It is [possible], but it's very tough. And we fully aware of that.' Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn told Autosport Magazine.

Sauber will not bring any further developments for the car during the final two races, but Monisha believes that her team do have the ability to turn things around.

'This is about optimising things. It's not about developing anything, We know that we have a competitive car.

'If we get our act together during a race weekend, especially during the race but also in qualifying to start with, things can look good.

'But we are fighting against a very good team, so it's going to be very tough.'