After 19 races, 636 laps and 2857km of racing, the 2006 GP2 Series championship battle has boiled down to two races, with
Lewis Hamilton and Nelson Piquet Jr heading to the Monza season finale just ten points apart.
With points for pole, all three days of the Italian meeting will be of vital importance and, with Piquet having taken each of the last two top spots in qualifying, Saturday's feature race could see the two protagonists just eight points apart.
The pair have matched each other in almost every way this season but, after his scintillating recovery drive in the Istanbul sprint race, it is rookie Hamilton who maintains the advantage - both points-wise and, perhaps more importantly, psychologically. With 20 points on offer at Monza, however, there is still everything to play for, and the permutations are varied. Piquet has to go all-out for every point he can get to close the gap, while Hamilton knows that, provided he is more than seven points ahead after Saturday’s race, he will be crowned champion.
Should the Briton take pole, his championship tally would rise to 103 with Piquet still on 91. If the poleman was then to win the race, he’d be on 113 with Nelson on a potential maximum of 100 for finishing second and taking fastest lap. Should Hamilton take pole and Piquet win, that would put the Brazilian on 101, but Hamilton would still only need to take a podium finish - or fourth place and fastest lap - to take the crown one race ahead of schedule. If Piquet takes pole and fastest lap in race one, all Hamilton needs to do is finish in front of the Brazilian to take the championship.
![Lewis Hamilton - ART Grand Prix [pic credit: GP2 media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/249867.jpg)
