"It's also quite difficult for me too because Michael Fassbender is also nominated and I was his right-hand woman for three months making Steve Jobs. I saw how hard he worked and I thought his performance was extraordinary.
"But I think you can feel the temperature and it's probably going to be Leo's year."
Winslet, who won the Best Actress Oscar for 2008 film The Reader, said her nomination for best supporting actress for her role as Joanna Hoffman in the biopic Steve Jobs was the "ultimate cherry on the cake".
"I really can't believe it because it has been a very strong year," she said.
"No one has been a shoo-in. People have been flitting in and out of this best supporting actress category for quite some time.
"There were like the golden tickets this year. They were really very coveted spots, particularly in this category, so I'm absolutely thrilled.
"This was a film I was so proud to be in and I really love the film. I loved the experience of making it so it's [the] ultimate cherry on the cake to be nominated."
Sir Kenneth Branagh attended the awards as he received the Dilys Powell Award for excellence in film, which was presented by Dame Judi Dench.
The awards at London's May Fair Hotel are voted for by 140 members of the Critics' Circle Film Section.
- PAA
