Lewis Hamilton revelled in his role as pantomime villain of the Italian Grand Prix after he crushed rival Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari’s home race to take charge of the title battle for the first time this year.

World champion Lewis Hamilton ended the final practice session at the top of the pile as he bids to win his 50th grand prix and complete a historic hat-trick in Monza.

Lewis Hamilton has been given the all-clear to race with his new-spec engine in today’s Italian Grand Prix after Mercedes diagnosed the cause of Nico Rosberg’s power-unit failure.