Lewis Hamilton is predicting a “very close” battle in Italian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday for what he says would be a “dream” pole position at Monza. Hamilton was outperformed by his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in both of Friday's practice sessions, but the team's overall performance, following the arrival of a new engine upgrade, suggested they have the pace to compete for pole.

Leclerc topped Hamilton in first practice before Mercedes' George Russell was fastest in the second session, with Leclerc second and Hamilton only fifth behind Kimi Antonelli and McLaren's Lando Norris. Ferrari are set to go into qualifying with a two-versus-one advantage over Mercedes due to Antonelli having already incurred penalties for exceeding his engine-part allowance.

“It's going to be tight, it's very close,” Hamilton said. “We're up against the McLarens and the Mercedes, they are very, very competitive. Every weekend the Mercedes is just really, really quick. It'll be tough, for sure, but we need to knuckle down tonight and see if we can pull something out.”

Asked about the possibility of starting on the front row or pole position at Ferrari's home race, Hamilton replied: “That's the dream, the ultimate dream. Whether or not we can is the big, big question. And that's going to take a lot of work tonight to try to figure out if we've gone wrong anywhere and if there's any places we can improve, which there are loads of places we can improve.”