Hamilton ignores speculation to score in Monza

Lewis Hamilton refused to let speculation surrounding his future hinder his driving capabilities as he cantered to victory in Monza and completed a McLaren hat-trick in Italy.

That win lifted him to second in the Driver’s Championship standings and he’s now a 10/3 shot to claim his second title.

He has 37 points to make up on his former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso following the Spaniard’s capitalising on Jenson Button’s retirement to snatch the final spot on the podium.

This, therefore, will mean much hinges upon the race’s next circuit – Singapore.

If Hamilton can pull off successive wins – which he’s priced at 2/1 to achieve – he could find himself right back in the title shake up however, as it stands, he has a lot of work to do if he’s going to chase down 4/6 favourite Alonso and be crowned world champ.

With seven races to go, a chequered flag in Marina Bay would effectively put Alonso’s name on the trophy, even in a season as unpredictable as this one, and his record here will see him brimming with confidence ahead of the trip to the Far East.

Since the race’s reintroduction to the F1 calendar four years ago, the two-time world champ has recorded two wins here, as well as a third, with last season the only year he has failed to claim a spot on the podium.

Punters can back him at 4/1 to put last season’s race behind him and win this time around.

Hamilton scored here in 2009 but hasn’t fared so well since. After two strong qualification performances in Singapore, last term’s fifth-place was the best he could manage after retiring in 2010.

Button, in effect, threw the towel in on his title hopes by retiring in Monza following his Belgian heroics the week before; he’s priced at 9/2 to rid himself of that disappointment on his next run.

Coming in second to Sebastien Vettel – an 8/1 shot to retain – proves the Englishman knows what it takes to get results on this track but whether he can steal the limelight from the two F1 front-runners poses a different question entirely.

As far as the race for the Constructor’s Championship goes, Red Bull’s hopes of retaining their title suffered a setback following two DNFs for Mark Webber and Vettel in Italy.

This slip up allowed McLaren to close the gap at the top to 29 points yet the Austrian company remain 4/5 favourites for a second successive title.

A Hamilton victory in Singapore will again see that gap shorten and odds of 11/10 for the British-based constructors to reclaim the top prize from Red Bull at the end of the season typifies the uncertain nature of the 2012 campaign.

All odds and markets are correct as of the time of publication