Stewart sneaks advantage over Williams

Stewart is three points ahead of its rivals after winning the European Grand Prix and getting 19 points in the last two races.

Herbert will start one place in front of the Williams of Ralf Schumacher, though he was disappointed not to get a top six spot at Suzuka.

'The top six was within reach,' said Herbert, who won last month's European Grand Prix in Germany.

'From a team perspective it is important that I am ahead of Ralf given the championship points standing.'

Schumacher did his cause no good when he smashed into a tyre barrier after hitting a kerb early in the session on his first qualifying run and was forced into the t-car.

The German said, 'I pushed too hard, came too hard over the kerbs and crashed into the barrier. I am sure that with the race car I could have achieved a better position on the grid.

'But I feel fairly confident that we will be able to finish in the points.'

Brazil's Rubens Barrichello qualified 13th for his last race for Stewart-Ford while Alex Zanardi will start from 16th place on the grid for Williams.

The Stewart team would have been eight points ahead of Williams if Ferrari had not won its appeal against disqualification from the last race in Malaysia, now it faces a tight scrap right down to the wire in the last round.