The Ferrari driver held off Montoya's attack to take the lead on the first lap, losing it only during the race leaders' two pit stops.

Coulthard finished third, having been let past by McLaren teammate Mika Häkkinen in the final five laps of the Grand Prix.

[2] Some news websites incorrectly reported that the event would be postponed due to the United States invasion of Afghanistan after the previous month's September 11 attacks in the United States but the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) issued a statement refuting the reports.

[12] Ferrari spent six days at the Italian Fiorano Circuit with test driver Luca Badoer and Michael Schumacher.

[17] Michael Schumacher commented he was "only interested in winning" but added there was a small possibility Ferrari could help Barrichello finish second.

[19][20] This was the final Grand Prix for Jordan's Jean Alesi and McLaren's two-time World Champion Mika Häkkinen.

[20][24] Ferrari brought a lighter, more rigid F2001 chassis while McLaren introduced no particular innovations and Williams used a top-exit exhaust featured at the United States Grand Prix on both their racing cars.

[30] With one minute left,[28] Tomáš Enge lost control of his Prost car at an apex, going off the racing line and oversteering across the gravel trap at 130R corner.

[33] On a light fuel load,[25] Alesi set the day's fastest lap time of 1:35.454, 0.523 seconds faster than the second-placed Montoya.

[39] He was 0.332 seconds faster than Häkkinen, who was followed by Barrichello, Coulthard, the Williams combination of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya, Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen, Trulli, Benetton's Jenson Button and Frentzen in third to tenth.

He outpaced teammate Montoya, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Button, Trulli, Heidfeld, Häkkinen, Barrichello, and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve in the next nine positions.

[20] Alesi finished 11th in his final Formula One qualifying session, despite working with race engineer David Brown to unsuccessfully narrow the gap on teammate Trulli.

[20][46] Räikkönen learnt his car was 12 kg (26 lb) overweight anda an understeer on his last run slowed him through the Esses, leaving him in 12th.

[20][47] Irvine trailed his teammate De La Rosa by half a second in engine power but qualified ahead of him in 13th.

De La Rosa took 16th, with his best lap coming on his third attempt, after failing to find a suitable balance for his car's tyres.

[20][45] Enge drove the spare Prost AP04 car following his accident the day before, setting his fastest lap on his first run before being stopped by modifications and finishing 19th.

[52] Trulli, Alesi, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Frentzen, Räikkönen and De La Rosa in the highest-placed Michelin-shod car occupied positions four to ten.

[58][59] Fisichella made a fast start due to his car's powerful launch control system, passing Häkkinen for fifth.

[55][58] However, Montoya had greater speed coming out of the chicane on the following lap, allowing him to slipstream by Barrichello and retake second at the end of the start-finish straight into the first corner.

[58] On lap six, Räikkönen, in ninth, suffered a left-rear suspension failure due to a bump at the exit of the Dunlop Curve.

[54] Montoya began to stabilise the deficit on Michael Schumacher from lap ten, as his Michelin tyres appeared to perform better as they wore down.

[56][58][63] Ralf Schumacher cut the chicane for the third time to stay ahead of Barrichello and avoid a collision, retaking the position.

[56][59] Another retirement occurred when De La Rosa parked his car, which lacked downforce and had an oil leak, after 45 laps.

[20] Bernoldi and Verstappen of Arrows finished 14th and 15th, respectively, after serving ten-second stop-and-go penalties and experiencing power steering failures.

"[65] Räikkönen said he was unsure as to what caused the crash but called it "a pretty big shunt and I have a bit of a head and neck ache, but otherwise I'm fine.

[44] According to journalist David Tremayne of The Independent, the accident involving Alesi and Räikkönen prompted questions about the effectiveness of wheel tethers in the event of a car crash.

[72] Häkkinen commented on his final race, "I want to thank everybody who I have worked with for the past nine years for all the effort they put into making my career so successful.

"[73] McLaren team principal Ron Dennis felt Häkkinen had much personal discipline and was hard-working to become a Grand Prix winner.

[76] Following their duel during the race, Barrichello stated that he regarded Ralf Schumacher as "a bad loser," adding that he was ahead of the Williams driver at the final chicane and thought it unjust that he went straight.

"[78] Nevertheless, Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt praised Barrichello's performance in Japan, saying, "I wish to thank Rubens for the great contribution he has made to the team.