Lewis Hamilton is hoping Ferrari 'turn up the heat' in Mercedes title pursuit

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari must "turn up the heat" on Mercedes in the F1 title fight heading to its home Italian Grand Prix.

After 12 rounds of the season, Hamilton is in third in the drivers' standings, 59 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, but level with his Mercedes team-mate George Russell on 183 points, although Russell is ahead by dint of having two wins to Hamilton's one.

Ferrari is 87 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship, and has two wins to the Brackley squad's eight, with McLaren also increasingly resurgent, with Lando Norris having won the previous two races in Hungary and the Netherlands.

Hamilton has claimed only one podium in the five races following his win in Barcelona, through a mix of penalties and Ferrari not extracting the maximum from its car, with the SF-26 not entirely expected to suit Monza.

Owing to the small turbo design, the Ferrari engine is stronger at tight, twisty circuits and on initial throttle application, but not at top-end straight line speed. 

However, Hamilton believes Ferrari must "turn up the heat" on his former team to beat them to the titles.

"We've obviously got a lot of work to do to try to close the gap to those Mercedes cars," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"We're in a much different place [heading to Monza] than we have been in the past, obviously last year. 

"We're still second in the constructors' championship. We've got a lot of positives to take from this first half of the season.

"In the next [races], we really need to turn up the heat if we're going to have any chance to beat these guys."