Third & fifth for Williams in final Monza Practice

Friday would see Nico Rosberg finish practice in an encouraging firth while team-mate Kazuki Nakajima was down in sixteenth. Saturday's sixty minute practice for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix would again see the rain falling as the drivers took to the track. The rain was forecast to stay all day. There would be the usual rush of drivers completing their installation lap. Both Ferrari's would again stay in their pits. The first driver to start a second lap would be Barrichello but he would pit without setting a time. His stop was brief as he returned to the track. Rubens was on the intermediate tyre.

Next to come out was Glock who had struggled on Friday. He was joined by Sutil. Another driver who had a bad start to the weekend was Piquet who was now also on the track. He was joined by team-mate Alonso. Trulli and Kubica would also come out early in the session. Barrichello would set the first time, a 1m:40.427. Glock was now fastest with a 1m:38.261. Sutil was third with a 1m:41.102. Alonso would move ahead of Glock with a 1m:38.073 but Glock would respond with a 1m:35.712. Piquet was third, 1m:38.678, while Trulli had moved into fifth.

Button was now out on the track. Kazuki would return to the track looking to improve on his disappointing results on Friday. Webber was next out along with Fisichella. Barrichello had pitted, joined shortly after by both Renault's. Glock would improve with a 1m:35.464 while Trulli was now second with a 1m:36.686. Hamilton had left the pit lane as Button moved into fifth, 1m:37.882. Massa would be the first of the Ferrari's to take to the track. Kazuki's first lap would see him sixth with a 1m:38.129, some 2.6 seconds off Glock's pace. Webber was eighth, 1m:38.724. Both BMW's and Nico had joined in the session while Alonso returned to the track after a brief stop.

Both Toyota's had pitted as Kazuki moved into fourth, 1m:37.519. Button would spin at the second chicane but was able to continue. Heidfeld was now third, 1m:37.142 but was passed by Vettel, 1m:36.951. On his next lap Kazuki moved into third with a 1m:36.713. Nico was down in sixteenth with a time of 1m:41.445. Heidfeld was now fifth followed by Massa, Alonso, Webber, Piquet, and Button. Vettel would improve his time with a 1m:36.310 to move into second. Nico would also improve jumping up to fifth with a 1m:37.006. Raikkonen had yet to take to the track and neither McLaren had set a time with thirty four minutes left in the session.

Nico would move into third, 1m:36.347, as Sutil moved into fourth with a 1m:36.572. Raikkonen was now on the track leaving just a handful of drivers in the pits. The rain was getting heavier making it unlikely that quicker times would be set. Nico was in third and Kazuki fifth. Coulthard had moved up to seventh, 1m:37.015. Vettel had improved his time with a 1m:36.129 but remained in second. Kazuki had pitted along with Massa and Alonso. Glock would also return to his pit, joined by several other drivers including Nico, Coulthard, and Hamilton. The circuit was now empty with just Trulli running with just under thirty minutes left.

This had come about due to the rain falling even heavier, much like it was on Friday. Trulli would pit while we had neither McLaren and Bourdais having set a time. Raikkonen was slowest with a 1m:41.164 but this was due to the conditions. Both Heidfeld and Bourdais would take to what was a very wet track. Nico would also come out but they were all lapping very slowly and would return to the pit lane. With ten minutes left in the session Hamilton would take to the track. Glock would join him along with Bourdais. Such were the conditions that Hamilton's second lap would see him set a time of 1m:46.325, some ten seconds off Glock's earlier time. Both Nico and Kazuki would return to the track with just over five minutes remaining. Glock and Hamilton had both pitted.

Kazuki would also return to the pit lane while Kovalainen had come out. Vettel would also come out, joined by Glock. Button was also out on the track. Bourdais was now eighteenth with a time of 1m:43.456. Next to come out was Heidfeld with just minutes remaining. Kovalainen would set a time of 1m:47.172 to be last. So we had both McLaren's in the final two positions. Bourdais was now seventeenth with a 1m:41.114. This would push Raikkonen down to eighteenth. With the end of the session Glock was fastest from Vettel, Nico, Trulli, Kazuki, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Massa, Alonso, and in tenth Fisichella. Kovalainen had improved with a 1m:42.683 to push Hamilton into last position. Not that the times meant a lot in the conditions. How qualifying will turn out is any bodies guess.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:35.464 16
 2.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:36.129 11
 3.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:36.347 13
 4.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:36.686 9
 5.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:36.706 10
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:36.972 12
 7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:37.015 7
 8.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:37.263 6
 9.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:37.270 10
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:37.285 9
11.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:37.504 11
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.671 7
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:37.778 8
14.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:37.833 9
15.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:37.882 11
16.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:38.689 8
17.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:39.319 8
18.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:41.164 3
19.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:42.683 6
20.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:46.325 8