Italian GP: Hamilton still on top in final practice

The Mercedes driver, who had dominated Friday practice, waited until the dying moments to take first position after the session started on a damp circuit.

Hamilton's best of 1:24.544 was still slower than his fastest time from yesterday.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was second quickest this time, with Nico Rosberg in third, less than three tenths of Hamilton's best.

William duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa completed the top five ahead of Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez in the Force India, Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber and Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus.

The session was off to a slow start following overnight rain, which meant the circuit was damp when the green lights went on.

That meant the first laps were done with Pirelli's intermediate tyres.

Toro Rosso drivers Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were initially the only two drivers to set a time on the damp track, running some 10 seconds off yesterday's pace.

They were also the first drivers to switch to slicks near the halfway point of the session, with Sainz lapping in the 1:31s, showing the conditions were still far from ideal.

As Sainz dipped into the 1:29s, a third driver - Felipe Nasr - finally joined the Toro Rosso duo on the timesheets after the halfway mark.

It was only with some 25 minutes left that the top teams decided to join the action.

Vettel moved into first position with his first lap on slicks, lowering the benchmark to a 1:28.673.

As the track continued to dry, the times started tumble, with Vettel running less than two seconds off the pace with less than 20 minutes to go.

Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat were the first drivers to switch to soft rubber, but their efforts were hampered by yellow flags at Sector 1 and 2 after Daniel Ricciardo's stopped on track with technical problems.

The Australian managed just seven laps before having to park his Red Bull, finishing at the bottom of the times.

Rosberg, on medium tyres, moved to P1 with 13 minutes to go, setting a best time of 1:25.480.

With less four minutes to go, Bottas jumped to first in the Williams, making good use of the soft tyres, but Rosberg retook the place seconds later, lapping in 1:24s for the first time in the session.

The rush in the final minutes meant first Vettel and then Hamilton went quickest, the Briton outpacing the German by 0.264 seconds in his first run with soft tyres.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:24.544		18
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:24.808	0.264	12
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:24.843	0.299	19
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:24.946	0.402	14
5	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:25.165	0.621	14
6	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:25.242	0.698	11
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:25.244	0.700	13
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:25.515	0.971	14
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:25.692	1.148	17
10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:25.747	1.203	8
11	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:25.912	1.368	17
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:26.141	1.597	13
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:26.632	2.088	9
14	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:26.750	2.206	14
15	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:28.123	3.579	13
16	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:28.215	3.671	25
17	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:28.591	4.047	10
18	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:28.628	4.084	23
19	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:29.117	4.573	11
20	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:29.900	5.356	7