Ralf into 2nd after final Japanese GP practice

Montoya would take to the track with new settings, aiming to improve on his sixth in order to be able to repeat last year's strong qualifying performance.

During the session Juan Pablo would put in a good lap, a time of 1m:33.525 to move into second, half a second behind the fastest driver Michael Schumacher. But he would quickly drop down to fourth as both Ralf and Kimi Raikkonen set faster times. Ralf would set a time of 1m:33.233 to go second.

In the engine department the BMW engines were using 18,400 revs while Ferrari was using 18,200, and Mercedes Benz 18,200.

The fastest time of the session would again go to Michael Schumacher. Such was Michael's time from earlier that he did not bother improving his mark ahead of qualifying, for him it was a case of perfecting his setup. Michael would be the only driver in the 1:32 time bracket. Ralf was within two tenths of his brother.

Third went to McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Juan-Pablo, and David Coulthard. All three drivers improving, finishing ahead of Rubens Barrichello. Rubens was content to sit things out and wait for qualifying.

Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was seventh, followed by Jordan's Takuma Sato, Renault's Jenson Button, and Sauber's Felipe Massa.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan Honda finished eleventh, followed by Nick Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve and Jarno Trulli.

Olivier Panis finished fifteenth, edging out De la Rosa, Mika Salo, Mark Webber, Allan McNish who had been suffering from technical problems, and Alex Yoong.