The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Massa, Hamilton to resume title race

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Massa, Hamilton to resume title race

MILAN: Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa resume their tight title chase at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, the last European race of the Formula One season.

Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the overall standings dwindled to two points after a time penalty cost the McLaren driver a dramatic victory at the Belgian GP last weekend.

Massa now finds himself right on the heels of Hamilton at Ferrari’s home track, where the Italian team has won seven of the last 10 GPs.

“I am happy with that because the championship is really open now,” said Massa, who finished nearly 15 seconds behind Hamilton before being awarded his fifth victory of the season.

Appeal result

McLaren has appealed the penalty but won’t know before the Singapore GP later this month whether Hamilton will earn back those dropped points. So the British team will be looking to score maximum points at the Monza circuit — F-1’s last flat-out racetrack and the championship’s oldest, where cars reach speeds of 360 kilometers per hour (223.7 mph) and average at least 240 kph (149.14 mph) per 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,” the 23-year-old Hamilton said.

Kimi Raikkonen is looking to snap a two-race pointless streak which has seen him drop 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.

Won’t give up

“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 on Monday which two drivers will guide it next season, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso being linked to the German team.

Alonso, who has said he would like to drive for Ferrari but can’t expect an opening with the Italians before 2010, 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. — AP

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