McLaren pray for rain to boost Hamilton's F1 title hopes

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The weather could play a major role in deciding the Formula One world championship, according to the sport's top two teams.

Wet races in Monaco, Britain, Belgium and Italy have played into the hands of McLaren and shown up Ferrari's inadequacies.

Lewis Hamilton won in the rain at Monaco and Silverstone, shone when the rain fell in Spa and demonstrated race-winning pace at a damp Monza, while world champion Kimi Raikkonen and title contender Felipe Massa struggled.

And with the remaining four races in Singapore, Japan, China and Brazil, rain is expected to figure at least once more.

McLaren's chief operating officer Martin Whitmarsh believes his team has the upper hand in changeable conditions.

"This year has shown both Ferrari and ourselves to be remarkably evenly matched so I think it will be hard for either team to establish a decisive advantage in the four final races," he said.

"The performance of the MP4-23 in unusual weather conditions could prove decisive. While Singapore is something of an unknown quantity, I think we've all experienced wet races in Japan, China and Brazil, so we feel well prepared.

"Allied to Lewis's fearsome abilities in the rain, we have every reason to feel confident that we'll be ready to capitalize on any untoward conditions."

Arguably, Ferrari have the quicker car in the dry, albeit not by much, but the Italian team is well aware that it needs to improve its wet-weather performance.

Raikkonen and Massa have been unable to get sufficient temperature into their tires and an F1 car with cold rubber offers significantly reduced grip.

"For sure it's not really the atmosphere we like to race in, with rain and cold," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.

"But we cannot do anything about that so the only thing we have to do is work very hard and see what we can do to improve our situation in these conditions."

Raikkonen had been leading at Spa before the rain fell in the closing laps and he ended up spinning off into the wall.

The Finn qualified 14th at Monza and barely moved up in the race, but when the track dried later he showed his true, searing speed.

"I didn't lose my driving ability in the wet, but when you don't have any grip under certain circumstances, there's hardly anything you can do," said Raikkonen.

"You can just try to stay on the track and hope that the situation will change, as it happened at Monza.

"At a certain point it was as if a light had been turned on and I could attack in every corner, but by then it was already too late."

With Hamilton considered F1's best wet-weather driver and his McLaren on song in the rain, Massa and Raikkonen will be looking to the heavens for a little help if they are to end the season on top again.