Ferrari's Raikkonen fastest in practice following Monza downpour

Raikkonen, who today ended speculation surrounding his future by extending his contract with Ferrari through to the end of the 2010 season, posted the fastest practice session time ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The Finn's hot lap of one minute 23.861 seconds came in the closing stages of the 90-minute period, ousting BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica from top spot by just 0.070secs.

Raikkonen clebrated the signing of a new Ferrari contract with a sterling performance at Monza

Nick Heidfeld was a close third in his BMW Sauber, a mere 0.016secs further back, with current championship leader Lewis Hamilton down in fourth in his McLaren.

Williams' Nico Rosberg was fifth, with sixth place taken by Felipe Massa, the Brazilian two points adrift of Hamilton in the drivers' standings following the furore at Spa five days ago.

Heikki Kovalainen was seventh in his McLaren, followed by the Red Bull of Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil for Force India and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel, with the top 10 all within a second.

David Coulthard and Jenson Button were 11th and 15th respectively for Red Bull and Honda, with Fernando Alonso a surprisingly lowly 18th in his Renault.

Team-mate Nelson Piquet finished bottom of the standings after a spin sent him off the track midway through.

But the afternoon session was in total contrast to that in the morning when a thunderstorm turned it into a virtual wash out.

Washout: BMW Sauber mechanics remove water from the box at Monza today

Drivers, pit crews, fans and photographers, were all forced to take shelter, with the rain so heavy towards the end the water began to bubble up through the drains directly in front of the garages.

That led to several mechanics taking on a different role as they grabbed brooms to sweep away the deluge that threatened to flood the garage floors.

With five minutes remaining, and with the rain showing no sign of relenting, race control eventually red-flagged the session.

Come the conclusion, there was the unusual sight of a Force India at the top of the timesheets, with Sutil lapping in a time of one minute 32.842 seconds.

Even that was 10 seconds down on the fastest race lap of last year when Alonso led a dominant McLaren one-two given the track was damp early on following a light shower.

Hamilton was one of six drivers who did not post a time, doing nothing more than an installation lap when it was relatively dry.

Kovalainen joined Hamilton in looking on from the garage, along with Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber and Kazuki Nakajima for Williams.