Australian Mark Webber will be looking to take back his Formula One championship lead from British Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, Australia' s media reported on Thursday.

Hamilton's recent win in Belgium for McLaren saw him jump to the top of the driver standings, three points ahead of Webber on 179.

Webber' s Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel is ranked third.

Webber said Hamilton is very much the man to beat.

"Lewis is for sure I think one of the main guys," Webber told ABC Network on Thursday. "If you finish ahead of Lewis in the championship you are going to have a good championship.

"We need to fight against McLaren as best we can. It's going to be great for the fans to watch, I'm looking forward to the challenge in the car."

Webber said he thinks his car will perform better on the Singapore Grand Prix track at the end of the month, but he is not sure it is as well suited to the track at Monza of Italy.

"I think the car's performed quite well at Monaco this year and Budapest, so Singapore I don't expect us to be too slow there," he said.

"I think we should be reasonably competitive, more competitive than probably we've been at Spa and Monza."