AFP MONZA, Italy – World championship leading Briton Lewis Hamilton should be excused this weekend if his patience is a bit frayed and he shows an out-of-character tetchiness towards officialdom at the Italian Grand Prix.

Following a week of controversy and furore after he was stunningly stripped of victory at last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, the 23-year-old Englishman has been plunged into the heart of a familiar – seemingly stage-managed – scrap between Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes.

A year ago, at Monza, the two teams were at loggerheads amid claims and counter-claims relating to the so-called 'Spy Story' scandal in which, it was alleged, that McLaren had taken advantage of technical secrets taken from Ferrari.

The Italian public and media whipped up a frenzy in the build-up to the race, adding a melodramatic police-backed visit to the paddock by an official public prosecutor to the normal racing timetable.

McLaren, then, stood firm, said little and went out and dominated the weekend, taking the front row of the grid and delivering a triumphant one-two finish in the race, Hamilton finishing second behind two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari were outclassed, on and off the track.

It mattered little, because McLaren were fined 100 million dollars and kicked out of the constructors championship a few days later.

But Ferrari knew they had seen their team take a beating that not even a set of race stewards could retrospectively revise.

In pure sporting terms, on the track Ferrari were handed another comprehensive defeat last weekend when Hamilton left Brazilian Felipe Massa struggling in his wake as he chased, caught and passed his Ferrari team-mate defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

This time, however, three little-known race stewards chose to intervene and relegated Hamilton from winner to third for allegedly gaining an advantage after cutting out the Bus Stop chicane.

They handed victory to Massa, his second controversial win in succession, and in the process reduced Hamilton's championship lead from eight points to two. Raikkonen, the man beaten by Hamilton in a wheel-to-wheel scrap, crashed out of the race.

The decision sparked a bonfire of protest that has left the trio this week fighting to salvage their credibility while Hamilton, sensibly, has remained silent.

Such has been the deluge of support for him from former champions, veteran observers and unbiased race fans, he has hardly needed to say anything at all.

McLaren, keeping as neutral as possible, confirmed yesterday that they will appeal against the decision and revealed also that Race Control officials told them, twice, that Hamilton's actions in conceding the lead to Raikkonen, after going in front, were 'okay'.

“If Race Control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis's actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to repass for a second time,” said McLaren's racing boss Martin Whitmarsh.

McLaren and Hamilton have widespread support for their appeal. By Tuesday evening, more than 23,000 fans had signed an online petition urging the sport's ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) to reconsider the Belgian stewards' penalty.

At the same time, one of the stewards, Kenyan Surinder Thathi, attempted to justify their decision and deny that there was any kind of FIA witch-hunt against McLaren. “We acted professionally and within the rules,” he said.

His view put him into a small minority who believed the decision was right and set him against the opinion of nearly everyone who saw the incident. Former three-times world champion Austrian Niki Lauda said: “Hamilton did nothing wrong.

The strong feelings aroused by the stewards' ruling have turned what would have been a closely-fought race, in prospect, into another titanic and emotional battle for Formula One supremacy.

Ferrari have a strong 'home' record of five wins in the last eight Monza races, but McLaren have won two of the last three. If it rains, it will almost certainly favour the Anglo-German team, but if it remains hot and dry, it should favour Ferrari.

Either way, the race faces a challenge if it is to live up to its billing and provide the spectacle to match the rancour that has preceded it.

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