Sutil tops rain-hit practice 3 - Monaco

With the circuit drying rapidly at the end of the session, the lead changed hands repeatedly in the final seconds before the Spyker emerged on top with a 1:36.612, 0.127 seconds faster than Kimi Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton was third, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, Scott Speed and Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa did not improve at the end and finished the hour 12th.

The track was already damp when the session began, and then became extremely treacherous ten minutes in following a heavy downpour.

As a consequence few ventured out until the halfway point, when the Toyota drivers embarked on some tentative laps. Both struggled badly for grip, with Ralf Schumacher lapping eight seconds faster than Jarno Trulli but then slithering deep into the Sainte Devote escape road.

The deluge did not last long, and as more drivers emerged a dry line rapidly developed and the times came down.

Mark Webber, Anthony Davidson, Hamilton, Vitantonio Liuzzi all enjoyed brief periods at the top before Raikkonen went quickest with a 1:39.224 with 20 minutes to go.

The Finn then improved to a 1:37.773, which stood as the fastest until Jenson Button beat it by 0.266 seconds.

More rain threatened in the final minutes of the session, but the lap times continued to improve, as Alonso hit the top spot briefly before being usurped first by Fisichella, then the remarkable Sutil.

Unsurprisingly the conditions caused a rash of incidents throughout the hour, but all the drivers managed to keep their cars out of the barriers.

Sainte Devote proved particularly tricky, with Schumacher, Webber, and both McLarens visiting the escape road.

Both Toro Rosso drivers explored the Mirabeau run-off, as did Takuma Sato and Schumacher, while Alex Wurz spun his Williams at the same place.

Christijan Albers had a similar incident at the Grand Hotel hairpin, but also managed to rejoin without disrupting the session.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:36.612           12
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:36.739 + 0.127   13
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:36.767 + 0.155   15
 4.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:36.784 + 0.172   16
 5.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:36.954 + 0.342   15
 6.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:37.020 + 0.408   16
 7.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:37.214 + 0.602   15
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:37.388 + 0.776   15
 9.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:37.442 + 0.830   12
10.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:37.463 + 0.851   14
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:37.732 + 1.120   13
12.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:37.997 + 1.385   12
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:38.121 + 1.509   14
14.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:38.180 + 1.568   17
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:38.302 + 1.690    6
16.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:38.463 + 1.851   13
17.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:38.876 + 2.264   14
18.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:38.899 + 2.287   18
19.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:38.935 + 2.323   14
20.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:40.677 + 4.065   17
21.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:41.108 + 4.496    8
22.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:43.417 + 6.805   22