Ferrari pole at Monza 'the ultimate dream' for Hamilton after strong Italian Grand Prix Friday running

Lewis Hamilton admits the prospect of pole position for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix in front of Ferrari's home fans is "the ultimate dream", as he and team mate Charles Leclerc enjoyed a strong Friday.

The Tifosi were left thrilled after the opening hour of practice at Monza, as Leclerc headed Hamilton at the top of the times, before the pair slipped to P2 and P5 respectively in the second session.

Hamilton later explained that his deficit in Free Practice 2, which stood at nearly half a second to George Russell's Mercedes, was partly due to not having a tow down Monza's long straights.

"The long run wasn’t bad, just lacking a bit of pace," said Hamilton. "But a lot of the pace came from straight-line speed, a lot to do with tows and stuff. I was pretty on my own out there.

"But the Mercedes is very quick on the straights as always, so we have some work to do overnight to see if we can improve that and improve the balance a little bit.

"It’s going to be tight, it is very close. We are up against the McLarens and the Mercedes, they both look very, very competitive.

"Every weekend, the Mercedes is just really, really quick. It will be tough for sure, but we really need to knuckle down tonight and see if we can pull something out."

Hamilton has enjoyed a resurgence in form during his sophomore season with Ferrari, which included his first Grand Prix victory for the Scuderia in Barcelona.

The seven-time World Champion sits joint-second in the drivers' standings, 59 points behind Kimi Antonelli, and has yet to take a pole position in red – admitting that doing it in front of the team's home fans would be special.

"I mean, that’s the dream, that’s the ultimate dream. Whether or not we can is the big, big question," he said.

"It is going to take a lot of work tonight to try and figure out if we have gone wrong anywhere and if there’s any places we can improve.

"There are loads of places we can improve, but as I said, being in the right place at the right time on this track is going to help a lot."