Webber 7th in Japanese GP Qualifying

The earlier practice sessions were affected by heavy rain but with qualifying
about the commence the rain had eased. The track would still would be very wet for those running early in the session but the conditions could improve as the session progresses. Raikkonen will lose ten places on the grid due to his engine change on Friday.

The first group of drivers would include both BMW WilliamsF1 cars with David Coulthard staring qualifying from Pizzonia, Doornbos, Webber, and Monteiro. Coulthard would come out on intermediate tyres for his qualifying lap. There was still a large amount of spray coming from his tyres. He would start his lap and would set a time of 1m:46.892. It would seem that the track would dry out during the session. Next came Antonio Pizzonia and he would spin on his out lap. The FW27 was looking very difficult in the conditions. He would finish with a time of 1m:48.898 to be 2.006 seconds behind Coulthard's time.

The first of Minardi's was next with Robert Doornbos. He would be using full wets rather than intermediates. He was 1.3 seconds down after sector one. He would lose another three seconds in sector two. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:52.894 to be six seconds behind Coulthard. The second FW27 of Mark Webber was next out and the Australian was fastest in sector one, 37.5. He was using intermediates. He was 0.5 seconds down in sector two. Mark would finish with a time of 1m:47.233 to be in second, 0.341 off Coulthard's time.

For Jordan's Tiago Monteiro he would spin on his out lap putting his car in the gravel ending his qualifying. He will start from the back of the grid. The second group of drivers would be Karthikeyan, Albers, Trulli, Villeneuve, and Massa.

The second Jordan would start his lap running on intermediates. He would be 0.4 down in the first sector. He would be 1.2 seconds down after the second. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:48.718 to be in third. Another Bridgestone runner Albers was next out. He was also on intermediates. He would be a second down after sector one. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:50.843 to be in fifth ahead of his team-mate Doornbos.

Trulli was next out. He would be 0.6 seconds up on Coulthard after the first sector. But he would lose control of his car at the Degner corner ending up in the gravel ending his qualifying. This was the same place Monteiro went off. Villeneuve was next and the Canadian would be 0.7 ahead of Coulthard in sector one. But he would have a moment through the Spoon curve seeing his lose time in the second sector. Jacques would finish with a time of 1m:47.440 to move into third.

The second Sauber was out and Felipe would be a tenth down on Coulthard's time in sector one. He would lose nearly a second in the second sector. He would finish with a time of 1m:48.278 to be behind team-mate Villeneuve. The next group would be made up of Sato, Klein, Ralf Schumacher, Button, and
Barrichello. But the rain would start to fall again. Sato would start his lap on intermediates. He was 0.2 up on Coulthard after the first sector. The next sector would see him lose the same amount of time. But with the fastest final sector, 21.0, Takuma would go fastest with a time of 1m:46.841, just 0.051 seconds ahead of David.

The second Rd Bull of Christian Klein was next and he would be 0.3 down on Sato's time in sector one. He would et the fastest second sector time, 47.4, to complete his lap with a time of 1m:46.464 to move into provisional pole by 0.377 seconds. The second Toyota of Ralf Schumacher was next and Ralf would be fastest in the opening sector, 37.3. The rain had stopped. He was ahead of Klein in the second and would finish his lap with a time of 1m:46.106 to go fastest by 0.358 seconds.

The second BAR of Button would start its lap and would be a tenth down in sector one. his second sector would be the fastest so far, 47.4. Even though he went fastest in the final sector, 21.0, he would still finish behind Ralf in second place with a time of 1m:46.141. the gap to Ralf was just 0.035 seconds. The final driver in this group Rubens Barrichello was out and the Brazilian would be a second down on Ralf's first sector pace. He would be 1.6 seconds down after the second. He would finish with a time of 1m:48.248 to be in eighth.

The final group of drivers would be lead out by Fisichella followed by Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen, and Montoya. After having been fastest in practice Fisichella would start his lap as the rain again started to fall. Despite this Giancarlo was fastest in the first sector, 37.3. He would be a four hundredths down in sector two. But his final sector would see him a tenth down finishing in third with a time of 1m:46.276. This was just 0.170 behind Ralf.

With the rain falling heavier Michael Schumacher would start his lap. He would be half second down in sector one. But in the final two sectors he would lose a massive amount of time finishing with a time of 1m:52.676 to be in fourteenth. Michael was running on intermediates which proved to be totally unsuitable for the conditions. Next out was Alonso. He would come out on full wets. He would be two seconds down after sector one. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:54.667 to be in sixteenth.

The final two drivers were Raikkonen and Montoya. As the circuit got wetter and wetter Kimi would start his lap and was seven seconds off the pace in the first sector. Kimi was taking things very carefully as he is going to lose ten places on the grid anyway. He would finish with a time of 2m:02.309. This was 16.203 seconds behind Ralf's pole time. Montoya would start his lap and would be two tenths up on his team-mates first sector time. He would be ahead of Kimi in the second sector. He would abort his lap and pull into the pits seeing the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher take pole. Mark and Antonio would finish in seventh and twelfth positions.