Webber seventh in final Japanese practice

The start of the final practice session at Suzuka would see the wet conditions
remaining with rain continuing to fall. With five minutes of the session run there were no cars out on the track. The Ferrari team was repairing the damaged F2005 of Michael Schumacher.

The first car to venture out was the Minardi of Robert Doornbos. For the Dutch driver his time out on the track would be brief returning to his garage after completing his installation lap. With ten minutes of the session run no times had been set. The next driver out would be BMW WilliamsF1's Antonio Pizzonia. He would complete an installation lap and return to his garage. With thirty minutes remaining we had no times set and no cars out on the track.

The conditions, with the heavy rain continuing to fall, were certainly making the teams very cautious about sending their drivers out. With twenty five minutes left in the session there was no activity on the track. Renault's Fernando Alonso was out on the track, this been his first time out. He would be the first driver to set a time, a lap of 1m:55.798. He would improve this with a 1m:54.020.

Several other drivers would also come out while Alonso was able to again improve his time with a 1m:53.289. Villeneuve was in second with a 1m:59.325, which he would lower to a 1m:56.781. Barrichello was in third. The second Renault of Fisichella was now fastest with a time of 1m:52.619. Klein was second with a 1m:52.897.

With under ten minutes of the session remaining Button would move into second with a 1m:52.761, while Trulli was now in third with a 1m:52.803. Alonso was now down in fourth. As more drivers came out Ralf Schumacher was now in fourth with a time of 1m:52.880. Team-mate Trulli would go fastest with a time of 1m:51.824. The second Red Bull of David Coulthard was now in second with a time of 1m:52.001.

Mark Webber was on the circuit and his first lap would see him move into sixteenth with a time of 1m:57.051. Pizzonia was in seventeenth. Ralf Schumacher was now in third with a time of 1m:52.048. Button was in fifth followed by Klein and Alonso. Ralf would improve his time with a 1m:52.105.

On his next lap Mark would set the fastest final two sectors to finish fastest with a time of 1m:51.274. Albers was now in second with a time of 1m:51.668. Neither McLaren had come out so far in the session with just a few minutes left. Coulthard was now in fourth with a time of 1m:51.710, while at the front Fisichella would move ahead of Mark with a time of 1m:50.818. Albers would improve his time with a 1m:50.994 to again be in second.

As the times continued to fall Ralf would take the top spot with a time of 1m:50.369. Trulli was in fifth with a time of 1m:51.503, as the session came to a close. Both of the WilliamsF1 cars were back in the teams garage. The second Minardi of Doornbos was in seventh. Michael Schumacher had not taken to the track in the session. In the final minute it would be the Jordan of Karthikeyan that would go fastest, 1m:50.150.

But on his final lap Fisichella would move ahead of the Jordan, 1m:50.136. Button was in fourth with the second Jordan of Monteiro sixth. Mark was now in seventh. The session showed that the Bridgestone supplied teams were able to match their Michelin rivals. So with the end of the session the order was Fisichella from Karthikeyan, Ralf Schumacher, Button, Albers, Monteiro, Webber, Trulli, Coulthard and Doornbos. Pizzonia was in seventeenth.