LEWIS CLOCKS ON LATE BEFORE CRUNCH FERRARI CLASH

LEWIS HAMILTON will be behind the wheel of his Mercedes today after a late arrival in Monza for the weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

The world champion was detained by an “unavoidable personal commitment” and the 33-year-old was excused from the official driver autograph session by Formula One Management.

Mercedes insisted he is not unwell and was scheduled to arrive in the Monza paddock for an engineers’ meeting ahead of what is set to be a pivotal race in the battle for the championship.

Rival Sebastian Vettel won in Belgium last weekend with a commanding performance in his Ferrari and Hamilton said the Italian team had a “trick” on their car although he later insisted he did not believe they were guilty of wrongdoing.

Vettel said: “If the car is legal or not, is the FIA’S responsibility. We have several checks over the weekend to prove that and I believe it is fine. For us, we need to keep our head down and if there is something like momentum, then we should use that to go forward.”

Ferrari go in search of their first victory at the ‘Cathedral of Speed’ in eight seasons and Vettel added: “I don’t know what state of mind they’re in, but we are obviously up against the best if you fight at the front, and Mercedes have proved to be best over the last few years.

“What we want to do is beat them, so we need to be better than them, and that is what we need to focus on.”