Lewis Hamilton has already started to turn his mind towards next year's Formula One world title campaign.

Hamilton finished a disappointing fourth in yesterday's Italian Grand Prix to leave himself 126 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel after the German claimed his eighth win of a dominant year.

With only 150 points available, it was a downbeat Hamilton that assessed the glaring realisation this year's championship is all but over.

Asked by Press Association Sport for his target for the remainder of the season, Hamilton said: "To finish the rest of the races, and also work hard on trying to make sure next year's car is quick.

"We're still pushing for this year, but it would be sensible to focus on making sure next year's car is faster than this year's car."

The McLaren star appeared to take a degree of satisfaction from the fact he had merely finished the race at Monza, and highlighting the goal was to see the chequered flag in the closing six grands prix.

That is an insight into his mindset given the fierce criticism that followed his crash in Belgium a fortnight ago.

After a 24-lap duel with Michael Schumacher during which Hamilton surprisingly complained to his team about the German's excessive weaving to defend his position, Hamilton finally edged past.

"I'm glad I finished the race," added Hamilton.

"I showed people I can drive cleanly and not get into trouble even if the guy in front makes it very difficult for me.

"I got by eventually and made it stick, so it was good."

Asked about Hamilton's desire to simply finish races and whether he had been mentally affected by the flak that followed his Spa shunt, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "I don't think so.

"He is a tough cookie who just wants to win. He will very shortly bang in that win and look fantastic.

"It's a shame it wasn't here, so we'll see if he can do it in two weeks' time.

"Here there was a fair amount of provocation and frustration in the race. I think someone (Schumacher) drove him off the circuit pretty aggressively at one point.

"At the first corner he could have stuck in for second and lost a wing. He was calmer than I was at that stage, so congratulations to him on that.

"He is growing and developing, and I'm sure he's going to win more races this year and put some of the other issues further behind him."

For Hamilton, there remains the honour of finishing ahead of Jenson Button, in particular when you consider he has yet to be beaten by any team-mate in his past four years in the sport.

"Where I finish in the championship does matter to me, but it is the way it is. There's not much I can do about it at the moment," said Hamilton.

After initially stating second in the championship was now another target, Hamilton then quickly changed his mind.

"No, no. First is always the target, and then you take whatever you can when it becomes impossible, and it's still not impossible," he added.

Button, in contrast, is simply content with the way he is driving at present, taking second for the third successive year yesterday to add to his win and third in the last two races.

Trailing Vettel by 117 points, he concedes he now has "no chance" of the title, whilst he has also dismissed any suggestion of the dynamic changing in the team if he beat Hamilton this year.

"I don't think it will. It will probably change more for you guys (the media) than anything in the team for us," said Button.

"The points don't mean so much at the end of the year unless you win the championship.

"Right now I am very happy with what I have done with the car this year and the way we've worked together as a team.

"That's more important than points at the end of the year."