'We can challenge the Red Bulls' - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is confident McLaren can take the fight to Red Bull this weekend after a promising pair of Friday practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was a second faster than the opposition in the morning session and just 0.036 off Sebastian Vettel's fastest time in the afternoon. Red Bull was much stronger than expected at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago and appears to be quick at Monza after showing promising pace over longer runs on Friday.

McLaren appeared to have the one-lap pace to match Red Bull but was slower on heavy fuel. However, Hamilton does not think the two teams' race preparations towards the end of second practice were comparable.

"We were pretty strong in both sessions and, on heavier fuel, I think we're slightly stronger than the Ferraris," he said. "At the end of P2, the Red Bulls were looking pretty strong, but I'm pretty sure they weren't on the same fuel load as us, which is encouraging."

One of the main dilemmas facing the teams this weekend is the trade-off between downforce and drag, as to be fast on Monza's long straights the teams require low drag settings. In the past they would run skinny rear wings to minimise drag, but this year they have the added factor of the Drag Reduction System (DRS), which is free to use in qualifying but limited to overtaking zones in the race.

On Friday McLaren appeared to be running higher rear wing downforce settings than its rivals for performance in the corners and then relying on its powerful DRS to cut the extra drag on the straights. But Hamilton insists he is very confident his car will be quick in qualifying and the race.

"We spent today working on wing set-ups - it looked like some teams may have been running lower downforce than us - but once we used DRS we were looking pretty good," he said. "It's interesting to see the different downforce levels - some teams are faster along the straights - but we're faster through the middle sector. It's always a compromise, but our long-run pace doesn't look at all bad.

"Jenson and I are both running the same wing set-up as each other, and I feel really happy with it. We'll make some small changes overnight, but I think we can challenge the Red Bulls this weekend. The car is going really well, and we're continuing to make small improvements, but it's going to be a hard race."

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