MILAN, Italy — Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa resume their title chase at the Italian Grand Prix, the last European race of the Formula One season.
Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the overall standings dwindled to 76-74 after a time penalty cost the McLaren driver a dramatic victory at the Belgian GP last weekend. McLaren has appealed the penalty but won’t know before the Singapore GP this month whether Hamilton will earn back those dropped points.
“I still have a two-point lead and we are going to make sure that we continue to attack and perform like we did in the last two races,” Hamilton said.
Massa has never finished higher than ninth at Ferrari’s home track, where the Italian team has won seven of the last 10 GPs.
“We saw this year there were races where Ferrari were better and other races where McLaren were a bit better. When you see we are two points away and have five races in front of us, everything is completely open,” said Massa, who finished nearly 15 seconds behind Hamilton before being awarded his fifth victory of the season.
McLaren will be looking to score maximum points this weekend at the Monza circuit — F1’s last flat-out racetrack and the championship’s oldest, where cars reach speeds topping 220 mph and average nearly 150 mph a lap.
“People say Monza is just about power and top speed, but it’s also a driver’s track, which is why I like it,” Hamilton said.
Kimi Raikkonen is looking to end a two-race pointless streak, dropping him one point behind BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica to fourth in the standings, 19 adrift of Hamilton. Raikkonen, the defending world champion, hasn’t won since April’s Spanish GP — a stretch of nine races.
“I’m not worried about what happened and I won’t give up: I’ll fight right until the end,” Raikkonen said. “My actual position is not ideal, but … I’ve got nothing to lose, so I’ll give it all, going flat out.”
At stake for some drivers at Monza could be a drive in 2009. BMW Sauber said it will announce Monday which two drivers will guide it next season, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso being linked to the German team.
Alonso also has said he would like to drive for Ferrari but can’t expect an opening with the Italians before 2010. He may spend the weekend pushing his credentials since he doesn’t rate Renault’s chances.
“It’s clear that (of the last five races) the worst is the one at Monza this weekend. It’s where we’ll suffer the most,” said Alonso, who led a McLaren 1-2 finish in Italy last year — the two-time world champion’s last victory.
BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais are two of the names on the bubble with their individual teams.
“For sure, if I am judged upon my performance in this car, where I am a shadow of myself, then it is just frustrating,” said Bourdais, a four-time Champ Car champion.
“I would like to stay, but it all depends on what the expectations are,” he said. “If their expectations are for me to adapt to a car I don’t like, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep me.”
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