Qualifying: Schuey dismisses Williams

The Ferrari star only used three of his four runs and improved his standard-setting mark every time. Montoya brilliantly got to within 0.3sec of Schumacher on his third run, forcing the German to go back out and finish the job. His lap of 1m32.484s was simply stunning and lifted him 0.7sec clear of Montoya, who failed to improve on his last run.

"It was the perfect lap, certainly," admitted Schumacher. "To be so far in front of the next car means you are maximising your opportunities. But we've worked very well all weekend. We knew we'd be fast here, and we are" ( click here for more from Schumacher).

Montoya was far from unhappy to miss out on pole, but admitted Schumacher will be hard to beat in the race ( click here for separate story). "I was surprised how well Michael was able to flow through the first sector of the lap in particular," he said. "I could match him in the second, and was quicker in the third, so he was very quick. But it's my first time here at Suzuka, so this is not bad. Experience here would help a lot."

The Colombian's Williams team mate Ralf Schumacher edged ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the dying seconds of the session to line up third. Starting fourth is a blow to Barrichello's hopes of finishing second in the championship, although his Ferrari team mate has pledged his support in tomorrow's race ( click here for separate story).

Mika Hakkinen looked set to star on what could turn out to be his last qualifying session in Formula 1, but he was powerless to beat the might of Ferrari and Williams and had to settle for fifth. His McLaren team mate David was down in seventh, behind the rapid Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella. But the Scot was not too downhearted ( click here for separate story).

Briton Jenson Button may have been outqualified by his team mate, but ninth still marked his best performance of the year ( click here for separate story). Meanwhile, his countryman Eddie Irvine took what has become a customary 13th place.

Unsurprisingly, Jean Alesi gave everything he had in his final qualifying session before retiring from F1. But 11th was his only reward, three places and 0.4sec down on his Jordan team mate Jarno Trulli ( click here for more on Jordan).

For Qualifying results click here.