It was only the pre-qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix but the attention centered on the two contenders for the world title — Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
Schumacher gained the first advantage for a sixth world driving title by finishing ahead of rival Raikkonen on Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix, the final race of the formula one season.
Although Jarno Trulli in a Renault had the fastest time on the 5,807km Suzuka circuit with 1 minute, 30,281 seconds, Schumacher and Raikkonen started the session and the times were close.
Schumacher has a nine-point lead in the driver standings over Raikkonen, 92-83. The only way Schumacher can lose the title is if Raikkonen wins the race and Schumacher fails to score a point either by not finishing or finishing worse than eighth.
All other scenarios, including finishing level on points, would give Schumacher the championship because he has won six races this season and Raikkonen just one.
Schumacher and Raikkonen were the first two out in the pre-qualifying based on the season standings. Next year there are new qualification rules that would have the results of the previous race decide who goes out first.
There is the one-lap qualifying on Saturday and the drivers go out in reverse order from Friday’s results.
Schumacher in a Ferrari came in third in the session with 1:30,464 while Raikkonen in a McLaren was fifth with a time of 1:30,558.
Michael’s brother, Ralf, in a Williams-BMW, timed 1:30,343 to come in second.
However, the older Schumacher, who has complained about being a track sweeper for those behind him, still had a good time on Friday.
”I’m quite happy with my lap and my time considering that going out first is a slight disadvantage,” said Schumacher. ”Although here it was less penalising than at other circuits.”
”The car seems to be handling very well and is very competitive. Looking at the times, the top runners are all very close, which means tomorrow’s fight for pole will be good and the outcome will be hard to predict.”
As Schumacher was cooling down, Raikkonen was warming up for his lap. He was more than 0,3 seconds behind midway but gained a little in the final sector to end up less than a tenth of a second behind Schumacher.
The Finn knows where he can get better.
”My lap today was OK but there is still room for improvement, especially in the first sector where I lost about four-tenths of a second compared to the best sector time,” Raikkonen said.
”The gap to the competition is less than it normally is in Friday qualifying so we should be in reasonable shape for tomorrow and Sunday.”
Raikkonen’s McLaren teammate David Coulthard did 1:30,482 for fourth.
Williams’s Juan Pablo Montoya had a 1:31,202 for eighth. Montoya is 10 points behind Michael Schumacher. Even if Montoya wins on Sunday to score 10 points and Schumacher is scoreless, Schumacher will still win the championship because Montoya has just two victories this year.
Still, barring incident or injury, Michael Schumacher is virtually assured of his sixth world formula one driving championship, which would break the tie he has with Juan Manuel Fangio.
If Schumacher wins, it would be his fourth consecutive title at Ferrari. He also won with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 and lost the title in the final race of the season in 1997 and 1998.
The Japanese Grand Prix will also decide the constructor’s championship, with Ferrari currently leading Williams, 147-144.
The race will also see a new driver for BAR-Honda. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve decided not to race after the team announced that Takuma Sato will replace him in 2004.
Sato did 1:31,832 for 11th with BAR teammate Jenson Button at 1:32.374 in 16th. Villeneuve had a best qualifying of sixth in the first race of the season but was 12th in the United States Grand Prix trials two weeks ago.
Sato finished fifth in Japan last year when racing for Jordan Honda.
”I’m not totally satisfied with 11th place,” said Sato. ”It’s a lot different from test driving and I was a little nervous coming back after 12 months but not a bad start.” — Sapa-AP