Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the timesheets on the final day of testing at the Monza circuit in Italy.

The Briton took over from his teammate Heikki Kovalainen to complete McLaren’s preparations for the Italian Grand Prix, setting a best time of 1:22.967 after 97 laps.

Hamilton’s time was roughly three tenths of a second slower than the fastest lap by Nick Heidfeld on Thursday, but the championship leader was the only driver who managed to complete a lap in 1:22s today.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen was second fastest for Ferrari four tenths behind Hamilton.

“It was a good day, during which we looked to fine tune the car for this track as well as trying a few new things,” said Raikkonen, who met with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo during the test. “I would say we have done a good job, even if it is too early to say what the situation will be here during the race weekend.

“It was a pleasure to meet with President Montezemolo, who visited the track today. Now we have to try and do everything as well as possible to get back to winning again, starting with the race in Spa. The world championship? I will give it my best shot and then we can count the points at the end.”