Lewis Hamilton is ready for a "close" battle for supremacy at the Italian GP after Nico Rosberg ran him close on Friday and Ferrari showed improved form.
With nine points separating the two Mercedes drivers heading into this weekend's race at Monza, Rosberg claimed first honours by topping Practice One by two tenths of a second, before Hamilton edged the German in second practice by just 0.1s.
Hamilton, the winner of the last two Italian GPs and three overall, says he feels "generally relaxed" now he has served his expected engine penalties for the season but is not "ignoring the fact that it's a massive challenge to dial the car in and extract everything from myself and the guys in the garage".
After a 60-place grid penalty at Spa last weekend, Hamilton is free to fight for pole on Saturday and told Sky F1: "It doesn't really change anything, but perhaps the guys in the garage probably feel like they've got an elephant off their shoulders. The same with the engineers.
"So now we can focus on doing our job. It's going to be close this weekend, but I'm going to give it everything I've got."
Rosberg is chasing a second victory in as many weeks after winning in Belgium and, although eventually outpaced by his team-mate in practice, was also content with his Friday's work.
"It's been a good day in general because straight from the beginning I felt comfortable in the car and we got the balance pretty much right, so it's very different to Spa," Rosberg said.
"After that it was a bit of a battle with Lewis today, one time I was quicker and then he was quicker. Ferrari are the one that are the closest behind us, but it was a good day."
Under-pressure Ferrari's challenge at their home race has been boosted by an upgraded engine, which Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen ran for the first time on Friday.
Vettel finished third in P2, four tenths adrift of Mercedes, but says he is not yet happy with how he is performing.
"We're not going around to have a cup of coffee, so we're trying a lot of different things on Friday - on full beans, not at full beans, at different times," he told SSNHQ. "Friday's always difficult, but it looked okay nevertheless.
With the fast straights of Monza appearing to favour Ferrari's package over Red Bull - who finished P2 in fifth and sixth positions - Rosberg is expecting the Scuderia to prove Mercedes' strongest challengers.
"I'm optimistic that we'll be ahead, but they're not too far off," he warned
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