It was his eleventh win of the season and the fifteenth for the Ferrari team, thus equalling the record set by McLaren in 1988.

In the Drivers' Championship, Juan Pablo Montoya was 3rd, 5 points ahead of teammate Ralf Schumacher.

David Coulthard had a slim chance of winning 3rd place but that could only happen if he won the Japanese Grand Prix with Montoya finishing 3rd or lower.

Renault had almost clinched 4th as Sauber would needed at least to win the race with their second car finishing in the points to take 4th.

[7] Michael Schumacher grabbed his 7th pole position of the season and the 50th of his career ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard.

The session was interrupted for over 75 minutes after Allan McNish appeared to have lost control of his car and crashed backwards through the safety barrier at the 130R curve.

Takuma Sato impressed his home crowds by not just outqualifying his teammate but also ending up in 7th and only 1.773 seconds off Michael's pace despite this being his first time on the track in a Formula 1 car.

In addition to McNish's crash, Olivier Panis and Eddie Irvine suffered from car problems and had to stop on the track.

Both Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya equalled their worst qualifying positions this season.