Hakkinen's confidence back at Suzuka

While the world champion was flawlessly fast yet again, Ferrari floundered with a mis-handling car and title rival Eddie Irvine wound up in 10th place.

The Finn's team-mate David Coulthard was briefly in trouble again and crashed dramatically into the barriers when he made the smallest of slips and put a wheel on the kerb at Turn Four.

Hakkinen's fastest lap of the 31 he completed during Friday's settling-in practice day was almost half a second ahead of Michael Schumacher, third, and 1.6 seconds ahead of Irvine, 10th.

'I feel more confident than yesterday,' admitted the smiling Finn as he drew first blood in the psychological battle that will preface Sunday's winner-takes-all showdown.

He came to the track refreshed by a week away from the world playing golf in Indonesia.

'It cleared my mind. I played the best golf of my life and I hope that form continues on the track.'

But he was more cautious than Coulthard in predicting the grid from today's times.

'It is too early to say if today will be significant for the rest of the weekend,' he added.