Italian GP: Hamilton in the lair of the prancing horse in Monza

Monza (Italy) - Lewis Hamilton, comfortable leader F1 World Championship arrives in the cave of the Prancing Horse: Monza, Sebastian Vettel will attempt Sunday to shake the certainties and meet the fans who have been waiting for five years a victory Ferrari at the legendary circuit.

Leading the championship with 28 points ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg at Mercedes - now father of a little girl - Hamilton is still leading by leaving Monza Sunday night. This is one of the few certainties of this racing weekend on the old Italian racing circuit on the outskirts of Milan.

Because you can count on Ferrari, at home, to maintain the suspense with two other fathers, Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Vettel has already won three times at Monza, one for his first victory in F1. That was in 2008, in a modest Toro Rosso motor Ferrari, the only victory is an engine of the Scuderia in another car.

A historic victory in the rain for a pilot certainly promising but nobody could imagine that he would succeed the great Michael Schumacher, his childhood idol, on global tablets (four times) and then in the legendary Italian team .

- Vettel 'would choose Monza' -

"If I could still win this season, I would choose Monza," Vettel smiled at the beginning of summer, a few months after his victory in Malaysia in March. Since then he has established himself once again in fine style in Hungary in late July. It is therefore even stronger in his mind when approaching this weekend with old, on a track where modern F1, with minimum downforce, sometimes traveling at 360 km / h.

As every year in the shady grounds of the old racetrack, the fans will have eyes only for the red cars at the famous prancing horse. The last two victories of a Ferrari at the Italian GP date back to 2010 (Fernando Alonso) and 2006 (Michael Schumacher).

To create the event, it will of course fight the stables Mercedes-AMG, the reigning world champion, the best army plateau engines. Engines that rose further this summer and will be, once again, of the master asset to Hamilton on + + serial winner (six wins in 11 races in 2015) and Rosberg, the new dad.

- 'Mad!' -

Hamilton remains on two victories at Monza in three years (2012, 2014), perfectly alternating with Vettel (2011, 2013).

He loves the ultra-fast circuit and did a brief stint earlier this year on the old gear ring of concrete time, accompanied by Sir Stirling Moss. He was driving a Mercedes W196 old English driver and it was "insane", he confessed.

"It gave me a sense of the history of this place and the reasons why it has become so legendary. It's always a big challenge today because it is fast but also very technical, with big braking and large vibrators that you can not avoid if we want to have the ideal line. "

Rosberg will therefore have work to avoid a duel between the two phenomena, Hamilton and Vettel.

He is confident: "I am sure that this track will suit my car and I love this circuit, so all the ingredients are there to have a good weekend (...) I have a goal:. Be a step higher than last year, "says the vice-champion of the German world, the second of the 2014 edition.

Finally, in the paddock at Monza, the future of the Italian GP beyond 2016 will be negotiated between the local authorities of Lombardy, who promised this week to renovate the circuit, and Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 promoter . As on the track of the old racetrack, there will be a little suspense ...