Rosberg tops shortened practice 3

Nico Rosberg stamped emphatic authority all over a shortened final free practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix on a soaking wet Interlagos track

The German's 1m23.182s put him fastest ahead of Williams team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, with world championship leader Jenson Button third.

The 60-minute session was reduced to about 10, after a huge tropical storm covered the circuit with rivers of water and the accompanying mist prevented the medical helicopter from taking off.

Finally, the track was opened with 16 minutes left on the clock and Rosberg's Williams, along with the McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton setting the pace initially.

More and more drivers joined them on track, with several aquaplaining and spinning on the exit of Turn 5, including Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

Romain Grosjean also went off there, getting momentarily airborne before thumping in to the barrier head on. The Frenchman was okay, but his Renault was not and the session was red flagged early.

The order at the point the session was stopped was Rosberg, Nakajima, Button, Alonso, Adrian Sutil and Grosjean.

More heavy rain is forecast for qualifying.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)   1:23.182 +         9
 2.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)   1:23.832 + 0.650   7
 3.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)   1:24.122 + 0.940   6
 4.  Alonso        Renault              (B)   1:24.125 + 0.943   5
 5.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)   1:24.149 + 0.967   4
 6.  Grosjean      Renault              (B)   1:24.389 + 1.207   5
 7.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:24.443 + 1.261   5
 8.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)   1:24.859 + 1.677   5
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)   1:24.867 + 1.685   5
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:25.440 + 2.258   5
11.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)   1:25.508 + 2.326   4
12.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:25.685 + 2.503   5
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:26.224 + 3.042   6
14.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)   1:26.530 + 3.348   4
15.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:27.047 + 3.865   4
16.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes (B)   1:27.341 + 4.159   4
17.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:27.798 + 4.616   4
18.  Fisichella    Ferrari              (B)   1:29.285 + 6.103   4
19.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)   1:29.895 + 6.713   3
20.  Kobayashi     Toyota               (B)   1:30.259 + 7.077   4

All timing unofficial