Trulli frustrated by session

The Italian, who is switching to Benetton next year, suffered from traffic on his second flying to qualify eighth. His team mate Jean Alesi will start 11th for the 201st and last race of his 12-year Grand Prix career.

"Today's result was a little disappointing as the car felt very good and I think I could have been sixth if I had not had traffic," Trulli said. "Unfortunately, however, I lost a lot of time in the second section on that run, and then I was not able to improve the time on the final two runs. But it wasn't a bad result and I feel I got the best out of the car.

He was hugged after the session by Alesi. "I think Jean was having fun out on the track - he came up and gave me a big hug at the end of the session. He and I have had a lot of fun together over these last few races. We will all miss him."

Alesi, who announced his retirement on Wednesday in Tokyo, revelled in his final Suzuka appearance in front of a banner in the grandstand opposite the pits which read "Forza Jean. You are our hero. See you next year."

"I enjoyed it out there today although of course I would have rather
finished my last qualifying higher up the grid because 11th is not a great result for the team," he said.

"I got the best I could out of the car but I just couldn't get past a 1m34.4sec lap. There were no problems though, and I enjoyed the session very much. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's race, a little more than usual."