Once again it was Jarno Trulli setting the pace for the first qualifying session, in what is becoming a familiar sight for the Formula 1 faithful. The Renault driver dominated the afternoon’s innings, smashing the times clocked up by the Schumacher brothers and registering comfortably below Michael’s 2002 pole position time of 1: 31.317.

The Italian built on his fastest time from the morning practise session and put in a fantastic 1:30.281. “I had a clutch problem this morning,” Trulli said, “but once that was fixed we were able to get a good balance on the car quite quickly and I was happy with it. The chassis is well suited to this track…especially in the ‘Esses’.”

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher initially set the pace with 1:30:464, finding that being the track cleaner (first man out on the track) was not disadvantageous on this occasion. “The car is well balanced and I was quite happy,” said the five-times world champion, “But we haven’t yet made our choice on tyres.”

Kimi Raikkonen, the only man on the track who stands between Michael Schumacher and an unprecedented sixth title, just fell short of matching of the German’s time with 1:30.558. Then out came Ralf Schumacher to surpass both the McLaren and the Ferrari drivers. His Williams BMW lapped at 1:30.343, the second fastest time of the day. “I had heavy understeer this morning,” said Ralf, “but we made changes to the car this afternoon and it was a lot better. I still don’t think we’ve got the optimum for the car, though, so we have got work to do.”

David Coulthard, whose been skulking in his teammate’s shadow in recent months, came out shinning today. He came out late to lap a better time than Raikkonen with 1:30.482, subsequently clinching the fourth best time and relegating the Finn down one spot. Apart from admitting to being a tad bit cautious in the hairpin and complaining about some understeer, the Scot seemed upbeat about his McLaren’s performance (which is something that hasn’t happened in awhile).

The other Renault of Fernando Alonso also put in a strong performance today, finishing sixth on 1:30.624. But less happy were the Ferrari and Williams drivers, Barrichello and Montoya, who finished seventh and eighth respectively. “I had a problem with the gearbox after nine laps this morning, and that cost me a lot of time as the unit had to be changed,” said Juan Pablo Montoya. “The set up wasn’t ideal this afternoon so I had to push very hard and we still have a lot of work to do tomorrow. But Ralf’s time shows that we have the potential to do well here.”

The Sauber PETRONAS team seem positive about the outcome today. Nick Heidfeld qualified at 10th, with team mate Frentzen not too far behind in 12th. “With my 10th place we can be very satisfied,” said a cheerful Heidfeld. “It gives us a good starting point in our defence of fifth place in the Constructors’ World Championship. This morning we did some long runs which didn’t leave us a lot of time for set up work, but we made some changes for qualifying which worked out reasonably well, though I still have some high speed oversteer.”

Despite having to work his car far harder than he used to, Heinz-Harald Frentzen still managed to do a considerably good lap around Suzuka. He said, “I had great fun today, although the car was tail happy. I like this track and I always enjoy driving here, but we still have some work to do on the set-up for tomorrow.”

Team Principal Peter Sauber added, “Our positions today are a good result for us. Nick, with his top 10 result, has laid a good foundation for defending our fifth place on Sunday.”

Eyes all over the world will be firmly fixed on Michael Schumacher this weekend in his attempt to be the greatest Formula 1 champion ever, but in Suzuka there is little doubt about who the real favourite is. Takuma Sato, the 26-year-old Japanese driver, rose well to the occasion by taking his BAR Honda to the 11th fastest qualifying time. From team BAR’s point of view, Sato’s debut with the struggling team is already proving to be fruitful.

Except for the final half hour of the session, the weather remained sunny and warm at Suzuka today, with more of the same forecasted for tomorrow. If things stay the same, it looks like we’re in for a scorching finale come Sunday.

The following are the full laptimes of today's first qualifying session in Suzuka:

1. Jarno Trulli Italy Renault-Renault 1min 30.281secs
2. Ralf Schumacher Germany Williams-BMW 1min 30.343secs
3. Michael Schumacher Germany Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 30.464secs
4. David Coulthard Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1min 30.482secs
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1min 30.558secs
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1min 30.624secs
7. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 30.758secs
8. Juan Montoya Colombia Williams-BMW 1min 31.201secs
9. Mark Webber Australia Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 31.305secs
10. Nick Heidfeld Germany Sauber-Petronas 1min.31.783secs
11. Takuma Sato Japan BAR-Honda 1min 31.832secs
12. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Germany Sauber-Petronas 1min 31.892secs
13. Olivier Panis France Toyota-Toyota 1min 31.908secs
14. Cristiano da Matta Brazil Toyota-Toyota 1min 32.256secs
15. Justin Wilson Britain Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 32.291secs
16. Jenson Button Britain BAR-Honda 1min 32.374secs
17. Ralph Firman Britain Jordan-Ford 1min 33.057secs
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Jordan-Ford 1min 33.313secs
19. Jos Verstappen Holland Minardi-Cosworth 1min 34.836secs
20. Nicolas Kiesa Denmark Minardi-Cosworth 1min 36.181secs