Lewis Hamilton leads the Formula 1 World Championship standings by 17 points as the title battle heads to the Italian Grand Prix where the Mercedes driver believes they will be on the back foot while Ferrari will look to capitalise on the advantage they should have at Monza - hallowed ground and their home race!
Ferrari have not won a grand prix on home soil since Fernando Alonso did so in 2010 but this year they must fancy their chances in the wake of their comfortable race-winning performance at Spa-Francorchamps.
Mercedes are worried and Hamilton knows what to expect at Monza, "It's definitely going to be very tough going into the next race. Ultimately, Ferrari just did a better job all weekend."
"It's difficult to say how they've done a better job - it's just that they were faster, simply faster. If you look at last year they were faster here also, and we just managed to hold them behind."
"Their power is obviously a lot better than it was last year. They sailed past us at the start and their overall pace was stronger, I couldn't match it."
"Naturally, that's not great for us - but I'm hoping we'll be better next race - maybe the deficit isn't as big as it was here. I'm hoping that our package suits that track a bit better than it did here."
"In Singapore last year I think they were on the front row, so that's probably going to be the case there. But there are still other races that we can be particularly strong. It's at the point where we just have to maximise our weekends and capitalise if we're not quickest"
"We have done that in the previous two races before this. We capitalised on some of their misfortune and just doing a better job in the circumstances. The pendulum has swung a little bit. I would say the last two races, in particular, we just did a better job."
"The cards we were dealt with, we did a better job with them - even though they had a better car. We've called their bluff almost. But there's only a certain amount of times you can do that."
"If you keep playing a deck of cards and you're bluffing, there's only a certain amount of times you can do it before the opponent realises you're doing that."
"We've just got to keep at it. I truly trust and believe in my guys. We all feel the ups and downs together. You can't win them all, but this next run of races is going to be really telling."
"The next two or three races will really show if they're going to continue to sustain that high performance, or that's more tooth and nail," added Hamilton who has won three of the last four F1 races at Monza, including last year's race.
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