Motor racing-Rain washes out most of final Monza practice

MONZA, Italy (Reuters) - Rain washed out much of Saturday's final practice for the Italian Grand Prix with only seven of the 20 drivers completing a timed lap.

Ferrari's championship leader Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton were not among them.

Brazilian Felipe Massa ended up on top of the meaningless timesheets, with a best effort of one minute 40.660 with Williams team mate Lance Stroll second in the slippery conditions.

Fans huddled under umbrellas or sought shelter under the grandstands as the rain teemed down before it eased off enough for them to see some action in the final 20 minutes.

"It was definitely not safe, a lot of aquaplaning. Especially on the back straight the risk of aquaplaning is very high," race director Charlie Whiting said during the first part of the session after the safety car went out.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Jeremy Gaunt)