11 Sep 2008

Massa can take title lead from Hamilton at Ferra

6:49 am on 11 September 2008

After being stripped of a stirring victory in Belgium, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton must fight to keep his Formula One lead in Ferrari's home race this weekend.

Italian fans will be hoping Felipe Massa can pile on the pain at Monza after he inherited the win at Spa last weekend when Hamilton was demoted to third and Kimi Raikkonen crashed out in the other Ferrari.

That's left Massa only two points behind Hamilton in the drivers' champiomship with five rounds to go and he says he's really motivated to have a great race, especially in front of home fans.

Last year the oldest and fastest track on the calendar effectively marked the point at which Massa had to swing behind Raikkonen's title campaign after suffering a suspension failure early in the race.

The opposite could happen on Sunday night with Raikkonen now 19 points behind Hamilton going into the final European round of the year.