Hamilton heavy favourite in Italian Grand Prix after fastest practice

Lewis Hamilton has come under much scrutiny this past week, and will hope to make headlines for the right reasons by winning Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver is 8/11 favourite to do just that, after edging out Formula One leader Fernando Alonso by one thousandth of a second to post the fastest final practice lap.

Always popular with patriotic punters, Hamilton is currently fifth place in the F1 rankings, 47 points off Ferrari’s leader Alonso.

But this represents as good a chance as any for the Brit to narrow that gap, with leader Alonso a massive 20/1 for the race after crashing in Belgium last week.

Much controversy currently surrounds Hamilton, amidst a tweet which disappointed his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who won last week’s Belgian Grand Prix.

There is also speculation linking the driver with Mercedes, but an emulation of Hamilton’s 1 minute, 24.578 seconds time at Monza on Sunday would ensure more positive press.

Meanwhile, his team-mate Button is next in the betting as a 5/2 shot, as he aims to record successive Grand Prix triumphs and improve McLaren’s constructors’ championship points tally.

Button was fifth best in the final practice before this weekend’s race, signifying that the track appears suited to McLaren vehicles.

Elsewhere, it could be wise to avoid Paul Di Resta at 80/1, in spite of him posting the third best time during Saturday’s last practice.

Di Resta was given a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change, and thus has an extremely difficult task of making the points in his Mercedes.

Felipe Massa was the fourth fastest man round Monza meanwhile, and as such is afforded a 14/1 chance in this weekend’s race proper.

And it could also be worth noting that Sebastian Vettel, at 16/1, has struggled around this circuit, failing to make the top 10 in all three practice rounds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.