Alonso tops practice 3 - Italy

Raikkonen was on his fourth lap of the morning when his Ferrari snapped right under braking for the Ascari chicane. It glanced the wall before hitting the tyre barriers at high speed, head on.

The Finn was able to get out of the car unaided and was soon back in the Ferrari pit discussing the incident.

The session resumed after a 21-minute delay while the Ferrari was retrieved and the tyre wall reassembled.

The McLarens had been fastest prior to the accident, with Hamilton 0.097 seconds ahead of Alonso. They led the way out of the pit lane at the session restart and immediately improved their times, despite nearly making contact in the Curva Grande after an apparent misunderstanding on their out-laps.

Alonso moved to the head of the field with a 1:22.494, with Hamilton lapping 0.046 seconds slower.

They swiftly rejoined for a final run on soft tyres and both gained several tenths - Alonso improving to 1:22.054 and Hamilton to a 1:22.200.

Felipe Massa upheld Ferrari honour in third, 0.561 seconds off the pace, while Raikkonen tumbled to 20th following his crash.

The BMWs returned to their usual position immediately behind the title contenders, with Nick Heidfeld beating Robert Kubica to fourth place.

Williams' Nico Rosberg had briefly been fastest before the McLarens came out and he ended the session sixth, with teammate Alex Wurz confirming the team's potential in seventh.

Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen set identical times in eighth and ninth, with Mark Webber completing the top ten.

The Toro Rossos had both appeared in the top eight in the middle of the session before slipping back once the rest of the field switched to the soft compound. Sebastian Vettel ended the hour 13th, with Vitantonio Liuzzi falling back to 19th.

A slight modification was made to the new run-off area at the Roggia chicane before this session, with an extra piece added to the kerbing to prevent drivers cutting the corner excessively. This caught Ralf Schumacher out on his first run, as the Toyota hit the new bump too vigorously and was tipped into a spin.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:22.054           10
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:22.200 + 0.146   11
 3.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:22.615 + 0.561   11
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:22.855 + 0.801   15
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:23.287 + 1.233   14
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:23.454 + 1.400   13
 7.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:23.596 + 1.542   15
 8.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:23.672 + 1.618   16
 9.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:23.672 + 1.618   12
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:23.708 + 1.654   13
11.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:23.803 + 1.749   15
12.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:23.830 + 1.776   14
13.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:23.853 + 1.799   14
14.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:23.877 + 1.823   12
15.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:23.942 + 1.888   12
16.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:24.022 + 1.968   16
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:24.055 + 2.001   12
18.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:24.167 + 2.113   13
19.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:24.208 + 2.154   15
20.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:24.442 + 2.388    3
21.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:24.736 + 2.682   17
22.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:24.943 + 2.889   18

All timing unofficial