Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen celebrated the extension of his Ferrari contract with the quickest lap in free practice for the team's home Italian Grand Prix yesterday.
The Finn, without a win since the end of April and with no points from his last two races, blasted around the sport's fastest circuit in one minute 23.861 seconds as morning downpours gave way to brilliant sunshine.
Poland's Robert Kubica, a driver who might have hoped to replace Raikkonen at Ferrari had the Finn's contract not been extended to the end of 2010, was second on the timesheets for BMW-Sauber with a lap 0.070 slower.
In a sign of the Swiss-based team's promise at Monza, Germany's Nick Heidfeld was third.
McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton, just two points clear of Ferrari's Felipe Massa with five races remaining after being stripped of victory in Belgium last weekend, lapped fourth quickest.
Brazilian Massa, who has also been confirmed at Ferrari to 2010, could manage only the sixth best time.
The blue skies and sunshine of the afternoon were a complete contrast to the heavy rain that washed out the morning's first practice.
With the drains struggling to cope with the downpour, mechanics wielded brushes to sweep water out of the garages while a scattering of fans huddled under umbrellas in the main grandstand.
They had little to watch other than the rain lashing down, with drivers giving up 15 minutes from the end and the session abandoned because of the conditions with five minutes remaining on the clock.
Hamilton was one of six drivers who did not attempt to complete a timed lap in the session.
What times were set meant nothing, with Massa 14th and a massive 7.3 seconds off Force India driver Adrian Sutil's fastest time of one minute 32.842 seconds.
New deals
Earlier in the day, Ferrari issued a statment annoucing that Raikkonen and Brazilian Massa will stay with the Italian team for the next two seasons.
"Ferrari announces that it has extended its agreement with Kimi Raikkonen to the end of the 2010 race season," Ferrari said at the Italian GP. "Therefore...(Ferrari's) driver line-up remains unchanged for the next two coming seasons."
Massa, world champion Raikkonen's current team-mate, already had a contract to the end of 2010 while Raikkonen's was due to expire in 2009.