Mercedes started the Italian Grand Prix weekend in the best way possible by leading both sessions on Friday ahead of their championship rivals Ferrari on their home turf.

The three-time world champions set the bar from early in Practice 1 as Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets by almost half a second before maintaining their grip at the top into the second session as Valtteri Bottas recovered to pip his teammate by less than half a tenth.

Despite, ending the day second overall, Hamilton was positive about how his day ran, even ending slightly early in the afternoon such was the serenity of proceedings.

“It's been a good day, a clean day,” he claimed. “We got the running done, we got through our program with no problems. The car seems nicely balanced here. We just have some work to do to drag out a little bit more performance.”

Though looking comfortable at the top, the threat from behind remains ever-present with Lewis admitting: “It looks quite close between us and the Ferraris, so I anticipate it's going to be similar to the last race in that sense.”

As for teammate Bottas, he had similar views to that of the Briton when reflecting on his practice day, admitting relief that forecasts of rain proved inaccurate, despite a brief shower in the morning.

“In FP1, we were actually ahead of the plan because we were still worried about the weather," he admitted. “I think it was a good day - at least I have a better feeling than I had after the Friday in Spa, everything started on the right foot.

“Initially in FP1 we went slightly in the wrong direction with the setup, but we managed to change it around for FP2 and the car felt a lot better.”

Bottas remains focused for the rest of the weekend, however, on what is a crucial weekend for the former Williams driver as pressure builds at Mercedes to back Hamilton for the world title.

“Overall, it was a positive day, the car is looking strong, but obviously it's the next two days that count,” he acknowledged.