Sunday Warm Up - Japanese GP

Michael Schumacher maintained his dominating form in the morning warm-up for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, when he topped the times again for Ferrrari, outstripping nearest rival David Coulthard, in a McLaren-Mercedes, by nearly half a second.

But Schumacher's chief rival for the race, Williams-BMW leading driver Juan-Pablo Montoya, who starts alongside him on the front row of the grid, struggled in the session and was only able to clock the 17th fastest time because he spent the session working on scrubbing tyres instead of concentrating on a lap time. His Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher was also doing the same kind of work, along with most of the Michelin drivers in preparation for a race. Schumacher was in 11th place at the end of the session.

On a warm, sunlit morning of blue skies and with the track temperature recorded at 32 degrees Celsius, Schumacher produced a fastest lap of 1:36.231 seconds, at an average speed of 219.185 km/h. Second fastest Coulthard clocked a best lap in 1:36.685.

German Nick Heidfeld was third quickest in his Sauber, ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli and French veteran Jean Alesi, in their Jordan Hondas, and sixth placed Mika Hakkinen in the second McLaren.

The session was completed without any serious incident.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:36.231 219.372 km/h 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:36.685 + 0.454 3. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:36.966 + 0.735 4. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:37.140 + 0.909 5. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) 1:37.361 + 1.130 6. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:37.584 + 1.353 7. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:37.813 + 1.582 8. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) 1:37.891 + 1.660 9. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:37.942 + 1.711 10. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:37.970 + 1.739 11. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:38.183 + 1.952 12. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:38.263 + 2.032 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:38.604 + 2.373 14. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:38.641 + 2.410 15. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:38.740 + 2.509 16. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:39.091 + 2.860 17. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:39.182 + 2.951 18. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:39.295 + 3.064 19. Enge Prost Acer (M) 1:40.324 + 4.093 20. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:40.482 + 4.251 21. Yoong Minardi European (M) 1:41.104 + 4.873 22. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:42.142 + 5.911 All Timing Unofficial