Williams tops shortened third practice in Monza rain

Felipe Massa set the fastest time of a short final practice session for the Italian Grand Prix as heavy rain limited running at Monza.

Following storms overnight, persistent rain throughout the morning saw GP3 qualifying canceled in Italy before the start of FP3 was delayed indefinitely due to the conditions. With the clock continuing to run during a practice session, the FIA sent out the Safety Car on a number of occasions to check the track and see if running could take place.

Eventually the pit lane was opened at 11:44, leaving just a 16-minute window for running to take place. Despite the soaking conditions, all 20 cars emerged at some point to at least carry out an installation lap on the full wet Pirelli tire, which has seen very little running this year.

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The decision to run was driven by the likelihood of qualifying being wet later on Saturday, with the rain continuing to fall throughout morning practice session. The majority of drivers completed installation laps, but seven continued to set times.

Massa was the quickest of those, posting a 1m40.660s to lead Williams teammate Lance Stroll by 0.228s. The pair had a comfortable advantage over third-placed Nico Hulkenberg, with Carlos Sainz in fourth place, both over 0.8s off Massa's time.

The other three drivers to set a time – Jolyon Palmer, Marcus Ericsson and Daniil Kvya – were all over three seconds adrift, with the two Toro Rosso drivers missing the first chicane after struggling under braking. That those excursions were the only incidents of note on such a wet track highlights how cautious the field was being.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen completed three and four laps respectively without setting a time, while both Mercedes and Red Bull drivers opted for just a single installation lap, with the full wet tires potentially being needed during qualifying.