By DPA,
Monza (Italy) : Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen celebrated the announcement that he had signed a two year extension of his contract by posting the fastest time in the second free practise for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Finn, whose team said Friday that he will be staying with Ferrari at least till the end of 2010, posted a time of 1 minute 23.861 seconds for the 5.793 kilometre-long track.
The two BMW-Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld had the second and third-fastest time respectively, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes was fourth-fastest 0.122 seconds behind Raikkonen.
Earlier Friday torrential rain caused the first free practice to be abandoned shortly before the end of the 90 minute session.
The pit lane was completely under water and mechanics had to lift the cars to prevent them from being flooded.
Several drivers spun off the course and weather forecasts for Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race also predict rain.
German Force India driver Adrian Sutil posted the fastest time with 1 minute 32.842 seconds, ahead of Rubens Barrichello in a Honda and Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Force India.
Worsening conditions prevented drivers who did not post a time early-on in the session from bettering Sutil’s time.
Five drivers, including Hamilton did not post a time.
Ahead of the 14th of 18 season races Hamilton leads the standings with 76 points from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who has 74. The Brazilian had the 14th fastest time in the free practice session.