Suzuka, Oct 12: Barrichello benefited from the weather, the last of the frontrunners to go out before occasional spits of rain turned into a steadier drizzle. The Brazilian will line up on the front row alongside Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, the Williams driver whose title aspirations were ended at the last race at Indianapolis when the two collided.
Ferrari and Williams are fighting for the constructors' championship, with the Italian team three points clear of the BMW-powered one. "It's up to me to get ahead of Rubens, hopefully without touching this time," said Montoya, whose team mate Ralf Schumacher starts from the back row after spinning off the slippery track. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta gave Toyota a second row sweep with third place and French team mate Olivier Panis qualifying fourth -- a result to delight the carmaker at a circuit owned by rivals Honda.
Spain's Fernando Alonso was fifth for Renault and will start alongside Jaguar's Australian Mark Webber with McLaren's David Coulthard and Raikkonen behind. Italian Jarno Trulli's hopes of a first pole were shattered by the weather after the Renault driver was fastest in Friday's first qualifying. He failed to set a time, returning to the pits after his warm-up lap, and starts alongside Ralf.


Grid positions for Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix after Saturday's final qualifying: 1. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari one minute 31.713 seconds 2. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams 1:32.412 3. Cristiano da Matta (Brazil) Toyota 1:32.419 4. Olivier Panis (France) Toyota 1:32.862 5. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:33.044 6. Mark Webber (Australia) Jaguar 1:33.106 7. David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 1:33.137 8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:33.272 9. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 1:33.474 10. Justin Wilson (Britain) Jaguar 1:33.558 11. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber 1:33.632 12. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Sauber 1:33.896 13. Takuma Sato (Japan) BAR 1:33.924 14. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 1:34.302 15. Ralph Firman (Britain) Jordan 1:34.771 16. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Jordan 1:34.912 17. Jos Verstappen (Netherlands) Minardi 1:34.975 18. Nicolas Kiesa (Denmark) Minardi 1:37.226 Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams no time Jarno Trulli (Italy) Renault no time


Bureau Report