Schumacher fastest in practice 3 - Japan

Schumacher proved his mastery of the circuit as he delivered a crushing performance. His championship rival Fernando Alonso was in far more conservative form in his Renault and ended up fifth in the lap times, separated from the two Schumachers at the front by Jenson Button's Honda and his Renault teammate Italian Giancarlo Fisichella.

For the first time, the track temperature had risen beyond 30 degrees once the third and final free practice began.

After two days of rain, and cold conditions, the air temperature was 24 degrees and the track temperature 34 degrees Celsius as all the teams, bar Renault made a brisk start. The only slightly negative factor in the welcome improved weather was a strong and gusty wind.

Takuma Sato in his Super Aguri Honda was first to set a fast time, but he was swiftly removed from the top of the timesheets as successively Toyota's Jarno Trulli, Spyker's Christijan Albers, Ralf Schumacher in the second Toyota, Williams's Nico Rosberg and then the two Ferrari men took over.

Felipe Massa was quickest after 20 minutes, and he was succeeded at the top of the lists ten minutes later when Michael Schumacher clocked 1:32.716, the first to break the 1:33 barrier this weekend. Massa remained second.

The two Ferraris were not challenged for some time as Renault made a late entry to the fray close to the half-hour mark, Alonso soon clocking the fourth best time of 1:33.964 and Fisichella in seven laps not improving on 1:36.217 by the three-quarters of an hour mark.

Ralf Schumacher, somewhat unexpectedly, took over at the top of the times in the 44th minute of the session when he clocked 1:31.863.

That left the front of the field hypothetically running Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher and Massa, a scenario that would be calculated as a nightmare at Renault, where only a win could be considered a satisfactory result in Sunday's race.

And, with only six minutes remaining, it became a German trio on top, when Nico Rosberg clocked the third best time.

Given that all the teams and drivers were still dialling in their cars for the dry weather in race trim for most of the session, it was expected that there would be a rush of faster times when they switched to qualifying trim in the closing minutes.

This saw Jenson Button, in his Honda and on the team's home circuit, rise to second place shortly before Nick Heidfeld jumped to third in his BMW Sauber. That meant there were four Germans in the top five at that time.

Michael Schumacher then delivered his best lap only seconds before the chequered flag dropped, with a time of 1:30.653.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:30.653           13
 2.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:31.863 + 1.210   15
 3.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:32.310 + 1.657   12
 4.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:32.527 + 1.874   13
 5.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:32.555 + 1.902   14
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:32.590 + 1.937   15
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:32.730 + 2.077   18
 8.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:32.730 + 2.077   12
 9.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:32.787 + 2.134   17
10.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:32.790 + 2.137   15
11.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:32.977 + 2.324   20
12.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:33.163 + 2.510   12
13.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:33.213 + 2.560   20
14.  Albers        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:33.270 + 2.617   23
15.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:33.339 + 2.686   17
16.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:33.451 + 2.798   16
17.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:33.663 + 3.010   12
18.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:33.748 + 3.095   16
19.  Monteiro      Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:33.824 + 3.171   19
20.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:34.118 + 3.465   15
21.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.646 + 3.993   10
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.727 + 4.074   20

All timing unofficial