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From the rise and falls of Spa, Formula One travels to the legendary straights of Monza, as the championship arrives at the Italian Grand Prix. Join The Roar for a live blog from 10pm AEST.
Just seven points separate Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the battle for the title, as the attention this weekend is all on Ferrari, for what is their home race in front of their Tifosi.
Monza is a test of power and the teams with the stronger power-unit have been successful in the past during this hybrid era of Formula One. In fact, Mercedes AMG have not been beaten in Italy since 2014.
The long straights of the 3.7km circuit will expose the weaker power-units, such as the Renault and the Honda – while Mercedes and Ferrari should match each other across the 53-laps.
A delayed qualifying due to torrential conditions, saw Hamilton become the all-time pole scorer in Formula One, having achieved the 69th of his career – surpassing Michael Schumacher now.
Regardless of qualifying second and third in the wet, both Red Bull cars will be starting the race from the rear with grid penalties with changes of power-units for both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
This moves rookie Lance Stroll up to make the first front-row start of his career, whilst Esteban Ocon lines up an impressive third for Force India.
An unfortunate seventh and eighth for Ferrari becomes fifth and sixth, though it will be Kimi Räikkönen who leads Vettel off the grid.
With the weather looks set to be dry for the race, the pressure is firmly on Ferrari to pull the rabbit out of the hat and win at home for the first time since 2010.
Both Hamilton and Vettel share three wins apiece at this circuit, with the German having experienced the delight of triumphing for an Italian team in the form of Toro Rosso in 2008.
Will this be another romp for Hamilton, or can the jumble to the grid provide a cracking race, that could change the landscape of this championship?
Tune into The Roar from 10pm AEST for lap-by-lap commentary and live blog coverage of the Italian Grand Prix.
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