Grand Prix of Italy, Practise Session 3

Timo Glock set the fastest time in the final practice session at
Monza this morning as the drivers again found themselves in a losing
battle against bad weather.

Heavy rain prevented anyone from getting any meaningful track time,
but Glock managed to string a few laps together early in the session to
produce a best time of 1:35.785.

Sebastien Vettel came the closest to matching Glock with a 1:36.129,
but shortly after he set his best time the conditions deteriorated and
all of the cars returned to the garage in the hope that the rain would
lighten off.

It was already wet when the session began, but Rubens Barrichello
opted to stay out and was the first to record a flying lap, his Honda
setting an early benchmark at 1:40.484. Glock immediately went quicker
and within two laps had set the time that would stand for the rest of
the session.

With just under half an hour remaining there were still a few
drivers who were yet to complete a lap, notably the two McLaren and
Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais, whilst Kimi Raikkonen had managed just
flyer that was six seconds off the pace.

Bourdais was one of the first to attempt to brave the worsening
downpour, along with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, but the conditions
– and perhaps fears of burning through their allocation of wet tyres –
quickly forced them back into the pits.

With just 10 minutes to go Lewis Hamilton went back out and finally
cracked the timesheets, but the fact that he was 15 seconds shy of
Glock’s time was an indication of how difficult the conditions had
become.

Hamilton did improve his time a little, but it was clear that the
conditions were not going to lend themselves to heroics and as the
final minutes ticked away the drivers appeared to be simply trying to
get a handle on where the standing water was ahead of this afternoon’s
qualifying session.

As a result, the final chequered flag fell with the unusual sight of
Kimi Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen and Hamilton sitting at the very
bottom of the timing screens – and with so many of the drivers having
done so little running, there is plenty of scope for a surprise in
qualifying.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:35.464           16
 2.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:36.129 +  0.665  11
 3.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:36.347 +  0.883  13
 4.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:36.686 +  1.222   9
 5.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:36.706 +  1.242  10
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:36.972 +  1.508  12
 7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:37.015 +  1.551   7
 8.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:37.263 +  1.799   6
 9.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:37.270 +  1.806  10
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:37.285 +  1.821   9
11.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:37.504 +  2.040  11
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:37.671 +  2.207   7
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:37.778 +  2.314   8
14.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:37.833 +  2.369   9
15.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:37.882 +  2.418  11
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:38.689 +  3.225   8
17.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.319 +  3.855   8
18.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:41.164 +  5.700   3
19.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:42.683 +  7.219   6
20.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:46.325 + 10.861   8