Lewis Hamilton retained his sizzling form to complete a practice double over Nico Rosberg ahead of tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, 28 points ahead of Rosberg in the race for the championship, finished the opening session almost half-a-second clear of his Mercedes teammate.

But the German, who became a father on Monday, will draw confidence from the fact that he was only 0.021 seconds shy of Hamilton’s best lap of one minute 24.279 secs yesterday.

Mercedes have brought an upgraded engine with them to the high-speed Monza circuit and Hamilton and Rosberg were in a league of their own.

Indeed Sebastian Vettel, competing in his first Italian Grand Prix weekend for Ferrari in front of the partisan Tifosi, was three-quarters of a second slower than the Mercedes duo.

Force India, powered by Mercedes engines, appeared strong in opening practice and followed that up with Sergio Perez fourth and Nico Hulkenberg, who penned a new two-year contract with the team earlier this week, in fifth.

Pirelli, Formula One’s sole tyre supplier, was under the spotlight in Monza after two high-profile blowouts at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Vettel claimed he could have been killed following his penultimate lap puncture, while Rosberg was fortunate to emerge unscathed from a 190mph blowout during practice.

Pirelli urged the teams to run higher tyre pressures — a concept which Hamilton claimed could have disastrous repercussions.

But Hamilton’s fears did not come to fruition, which will have come as great relief to the Italian tyre manufacturer.