LONDON, England (AP) While Formula One continues to reel from 'stewardgate,' the championship battle moves on to the Italian Grand Prix. After being handed the win in Belgium, Felipe Massa has closed right up to Lewis Hamilton in the championship. The fallout from last Sunday's controversy in Belgium, where Lewis Hamilton had his win taken away after the race stewards ruled he had made an illegal move, is still being felt. An appeal from Hamilton's McLaren team is pending but the Englishman is now only two points clear of revised Belgium winner Felipe Massa in the world championship. With the title defense of Massa's Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in tatters following his late-race crash at Spa, the leading pair face a five-race shootout for the 2008 crown. But despite Hamilton's penalty for his pass on Raikkonen at Spa, he is already thinking about how to overtake at F1's fastest, and one of its most historic, venues. "People say Monza is just about power and top speed, but it's also a driver's track, which is why I like it," he said. "If you're trying to pass somebody, you have to stay as close as possible through the last corner. If you can get a good tow out of Parabolica, then you can slipstream down the straight and have a look up the inside at turn one. After Belgium, who do you think now has the upper hand in the F1 title battle? "That's your best chance of making a move on someone. You can also try if you get a good exit from the first chicane and have a look up the inside into the second chicane -- but that's not so easy." Hamilton will be hoping that he does not need to overtake anyone and recent testing at the Monza circuit showed his McLaren to have a slight edge over Ferrari. A cautious Massa said: "Arriving in Monza as the winner of the last race is a boost and we also had a good test there the week before Spa. "I think the results were generally okay and we will find out during qualifying on Saturday if we did a really good job on that front. "Let's wait and see what happens and personally, I can't wait to be back on the race track after that unusual Sunday afternoon in Spa." Raikkonen, 17 points behind Massa and 19 adrift of Hamilton, is not yet prepared to wave the white flag. But with time running out, any more poor results will surely see him asked to support Massa's title charge -- if that request from his team has not already been made. "I'm not worried about what happened and I won't give up: I'll fight right until the end," he vowed. "The points will be counted at the end of the season: there are still five races to go. My position is not ideal, but as I've said many times I'm not someone who gives up easily. "This is Ferrari's home race and it would be fantastic to win the Italian GP for the first time. I've got nothing to lose, so I'll give it all, going flat out."
