11/10/02: Finland's Kimi Raikkonen took the twisty Suzuka circuit by storm this morning, spearheading McLaren to a one-two with David Coulthard in practice for the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old Finn, currently in sixth position in the drivers' standings, timed one minute 34.232 seconds, just under half a second ahead of his Scottish teammate, who clocked 1:34.730.

Michael Schumacher, looking to finish his championship-winning season in style with an 11th chequered flag and a hat-trick of wins at Suzuka, finished in a lowly sixth spot with his opening session time of 1:36.109. The 33-year-old German ace managed only three laps in the day's second practice because of a problem with Ferrari's hydraulic system.

"We will now have to analyse exactly what caused it, but I am not concerned about this for tomorrow's qualifying session as I am sure we will be competitive," he said.

Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, who was second in the morning session behind teammate Michael Schumacher, took third spot with 1:35.402, 0.340 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montaya in a Williams.

Montoya walked away from a fierce collision with the tyre wall towards the end of the second session after losing control around a corner. The Colombian said he was "a bit sore" from the impact but would race on.

Ralf Schumacher, took fifth place with 1:35.995, just ahead of his brother Michael, who clinched his fifth world championship at the French Grand Prix in July in only the 11th of the 17-race season.

Eddie Irvine in a Jaguar took seventh position, nearly two seconds off the pace, while Jordan's Takuma Sato, gearing up to compete in his first grand prix in front of home fans, finished in 13th spot.

1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 34.232sec
2 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.730
3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:35.402
4 Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1:35.742
5 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:35.995
6 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:36.109
7 Eddie Irvine (Gbr) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:36.190
8 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:36.490
9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 1:36.529
10 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Jordan-Honda 1:36.744
11 Mika Salo (Fin) Toyota 1:36.893
12 Jenson Button (Gbr) Renault 1:37.014
13 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Jordan-Honda 1:37.196
14 Allan McNish (Gbr) Toyota 1:37.384
15 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber-Petronas 1:37.492
16 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas 1:37.781
17 Olivier Panis (Fra) BAR-Honda 1:37.927
18 Mark Webber (Aus) Minardi-Asiatech 1:37.997
19 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda 1:38.138
20 Alex Yoong (Mas) Minardi-Asiatech 1:39.142