Final Order - Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6.
Irvine, Trulli, de la Rosa, Button, Fisichella, Salo, Sato, Panis, Heidfeld, Frentzen, McNish, Webber, Villeneuve and Yoong make the rest of the field.

60 min: Final lap ... Ralf Schumacher improves his time but remains in 6th.

58 min: Eddie Irvine jumps into 7th with a time of 1:38.425. Yoong improves his time but remains in 20th.

56 min: Kimi Raikkonen takes 4th from Montoya with a 1:37.268.. 

54 min: Jenson Button moves into 10th place with a 1:38.640. Now 8 out of the top 10 are on Michelin runners. 

52 min: Rubens Barrichello improves in second with a 1:36.348. He is now 0.239 seconds behind Michael. Michael has completed 12 laps while Barrichello has done 10. 

51 min: The Michelin runners seem to have an advantage at this stage with 7 out of the top 10 on Michelin rubber. 

50 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Raikkonen, R Schumacher, Trulli, de la Rosa, Irvine and Fisichella.

48 min: Ralf Schumacher improves his time with a 1:37.880 but remains in 6th.  

46 min: Jarno Trulli improves with a time of 1:38.426 and good for 7th. 

45 min: Alex Yoong improves in 20th with a time of 1:41.983. That is encouraging for the Malaysian!

44 min: Eddie Irvine moves into 9th with a 1:38.715. Sato improves in 17th with a 1:39.704.

42 min: Takuma Sato has covered the most number of laps so far with 14.

41 min: Jenson Button improves again with a 1:38.929 and that is good for 11th.

40 min: Eddie Irvine is struggling with his car. He has only completed 4 laps and is currently in 20th with an uncompetitive time. He is on the track at the moment.

38 min: Jenson Button improves in 15th with a 1:39.441. This will be Button's last race with Renault before moving to BAR next season.

36 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Raikkonen, R Schumacher, de la Rosa, Fisichella, Trulli and Salo.

35 min: Coulthard improves his time with a 1:36.760 but remains in 3rd.

34 min: Kimi Raikkonen moves into 5th with a 1:37.355.

33 min: Rubens Barrichello moves into second with a 1:36.620. He is half a second behind Michael.

32 min: David Coulthard takes second with a 1:36.925. That is very promising!

31 min: After covering 10 laps Alex Yoong sets a time of 1:42.557 which is within the 107% time. It is going to be difficult for the Malaysian.

30 min: Rubens Barrichello moves into 4th with a 1:38.344 but he goes off after setting his time. He recovers though.

29 min: At this stage Michael Schumacher is over 1.2 seconds ahead of Montoya who is 0.8 seconds ahead of Ralf Schumacher!

28 min: Jarno Trulli moves into 5th with a time of 1:38.716.

27 min: Barrichello who had to abort his flying lap due to Villeneuve's crash is on a flyer now.

26 min: More cars follow!

26 min: Montoya and Ralf Schumacher are back on the track.

26 min: Session restarts

25 min: Session restarting shortly.

25 min: Session stopped - And BAR's second driver Olivier Panis is stopped on the track!. Bad start for BAR here. They are level with Jordan in the Championship with 7 points so this race is very important for the team.

25 min: Session stopped - Top 10 - M Schumacher, Montoya, R Schumacher, de la Rosa, Panis, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Massa, McNish and Button. Barrichello, the 2 McLarens, Trulli and Irvine have not set times yet!

25 min: Session stopped. Villeneuve is out of the car and is OK but his car is heavily damaged. He lost the back of the car and hit the barriers. He won't come out today. Bad luck for him.

25 min: Crash by Villeneuve - Session stopped!

24 min: Michael Schumacher takes 1st from Montoya with a 1:36.109. That is over a second faster than Montoya. Perhaps we got excited a bit too early!

23 min: Top 10 - Montoya, M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Panis, Heidfeld, Massa, McNish, Button, Fisichella and Sato. Neither McLarens have set a time yet!

22 min: And Michael Schumacher moves into second with a 1:37.377. Will Ferrari face some competition here ?

21 min: Juan Pablo Montoya moves into the top of the timesheets with a 1:27.316. Ralf Schumacher is second with a 1:38.478. Strong showing from Williams early on!

20 min: Michael Schumacher is also on the track as Heidfeld goes fastest with a 1:39.235.

19 min: Allan McNish moves into 3rd with a 1:40.758 while Button takes 4th with a 1:40.819. The 2 Williams are on the track!

18 min: Takuma Sato improves again with a 1:40.267 but Massa goes faster with a 1:39.460. Massa's future is also unclear.

17 min: Jenson Button and Allan McNish join in the action. McNish is driving his last race for Toyota and possibly his last race in Formula 1.

17 min: Felipe Massa moves into second with a 1:42.871. The top 3 at this stage are all first timers here!

16 min: Takuma Sato improves again with a 1:41.363 and so does Webber with a 1:42.904. Yoong sets a time of 1:49.998.

15 min: Felipe Massa who missed the US GP is back here in Japan for his final race with Sauber. He is on the track.

14 min: Takuma Sato improves with a 1:43.389 while Webber sets a 1:48.808. Alex Yoong and Eddie Irvine join in.

12 min: Takuma Sato sets the first time of the day, a 1:51.044. That is pretty slow. Webber on the track.

10 min: Takuma Sato starts his first flying lap of the day as Villeneuve pits.

9 min: And Takuma Sato is the first out on a long run.

8 min: Villeneuve takes to the track for his installation lap.

6 min: No action on the track at this stage after Barrichello pits.

4 min: Rubens Barrichello on the track for his installation lap. No times yet.

3 min: All the cars are now back onto the track except for Panis who is driving slowly into the pits. He may have a problem.

2 min: Only Barrichello and Villeneuve have yet to go out onto the track for their installation lap.

Session underway and several cars are already on the track headed by Mark Webber in the Minardi

Session starting at 11:00 AM local time. It is partly cloudy with an air temperature of 19 degrees.