Poleman 'surprised' at gap

The Ferrari star ended the one-hour session fully 0.7s clear of his nearest challenger, Juan Pablo Montoya, after a stunning series of quick laps that the German described as "perfect".

"I am surprised by the size of the margin, I must admit," he said after scoring his fourth consecutive pole position at Suzuka. "But I am happy to see we beat the predictions for our best lap time."

Schumacher paid tribute to Ferrari tyre supplier Bridgestone for playing a major part in giving him such a large margin to the Michelin-shod Williams cars of Montoya and brother Ralf Schumacher, who ended the session in third place.

Bridgestone produced a new tyre for its home grand prix, which proved especially effective in the initial quick esses section behind the pits complex, the area where he gained the majority of his time over Montoya.

"It feels pretty nice to drive the car, the speed through the esses is a big challenge but Bridgestone have produced a great tyre," said Schumacher.

The German's superiority also allowed him to limit his qualifying to just three runs, giving him at least two sets of new rubber reserved for Sunday's event. Nevertheless, the German was adamant that the race would not be easy, despite his crushing qualifying performance.

"This is one of the toughest circuits and to do the speeds we do around here for a whole race will make it very difficult," he said.