Monza: Lewis Hamilton says he is ready to wipe the smile off Sebastian Vettel’s face in front of Ferrari fans this weekend.

The Mercedes driver is seven points behind Ferrari’s championship leader but can take over at the top by winning at Monza, the Italian “Temple of Speed”.

“This weekend the ultimate goal is obviously to win, to put a dent in that lead that he’s had all season,” Hamilton told reporters.

“He’s had that smile on his face all year long ... so I’m looking forward to turning that upside down.”

Hamilton has started the last three Italian Grands Prix on pole position, winning two of them and finishing second last year to now-retired teammate and eventual title winner Nico Rosberg. He also won in 2012 with McLaren.

Another pole position on Saturday would be a Formula One record, after Hamilton equalled former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher’s 68 in Belgium last weekend, and looks highly likely.

British bookmakers William Hill have Hamilton as favourite for the race, with odds of 1/3 to take pole and 2/5 to win.

Vettel is third favourite for pole, at 6/1 and joint second favourite with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to win at 9/2.

Ferrari have not won a drivers’ championship for a decade, with Vettel’s current teammate Kimi Raikkonen the last in 2007. Vettel took his four with Red Bull.

He is the first Ferrari driver to lead the championship at Monza since Fernando Alonso in 2012. If most of the crowd will be cheering for Vettel and Raikkonen, Hamilton was unconcerned.

“I have in the past, many years ago, felt that I was in the enemy’s back garden,” he said. “But in the last four or five years I’ve had such a great welcome here even from the Ferrari fans. It’s much appreciated. Every time I come I feel at home.
“I love it here ... when you turn up and see the fans at the gate, there’s a lot of Ferrari fans there, but at least 50 per cent of them say ‘Forza Ferrari, come to Ferrari’. I just say thank you. It’s a compliment.

“If it’s a battle of how much support you have, I have no problems.”

With Vettel signing a new deal until 2020, and Hamilton set to extend his contract, there is no imminent prospect of seeing the Briton in red overalls.

Meanwhile, Mercedes dominated Italian Grand Prix practice on Friday with Bottas pipping teammate Hamilton for the fastest lap of the day, with Ferrari’s Formula One leader Vettel the best of the rest.

Hamilton was quickest in a cloudy morning session with some rain, clocking a lap of one minute 21.537 seconds while Bottas was second, but the tables were turned in the dry afternoon running.

The Finn pulled out a 1:21.406 while Hamilton — who will oust Vettel from the championship lead he has held all season if he wins the last European race of the year on Sunday — was 0.056 slower.

Vettel, seven points clear of his British rival, was third in both sessions with the gap closing in the afternoon to just 0.140. He had been more than a second slower in the opening 90 minutes at Ferrari’s home track. “It’s been a good day, a clean day,” said Hamilton, who won in Belgium last weekend.

“We got the running done, we got through our programme with no problems. The car seems nicely balanced here. We just have some work to do to eke out a little bit more performance.

“It looks quite close between us and the Ferraris, so I anticipate it’s going to be similar to the last race in that sense.”
Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest in practice one and two. The Ferrari fans will take heart that Mercedes also looked strong in Belgian Grand Prix practice at Spa last weekend. Ferrari closed the gap, with Vettel on Hamilton’s tail throughout the race.

(Reuters)