Felipe Massa upstaged Ferrari teammate
Michael Schumacher by taking pole position Saturday for the Japanese
Grand Prix.
Schumacher, with a possible Formula One title on the line in
Sunday's race, was second, while reigning world champion Fernando
Alonso starts from fifth position.
Schumacher and Alonso are tied atop the drivers standings on 116
points after 16 races.
Schumacher, who will retire after this season, could wrap up his
eighth world title if he wins Sunday and Alonso drops out or
finishes scoreless. Otherwise it goes down to the final race in
Brazil.
Massa qualified with a lap of 1 minute, 29.599 seconds on the
5.8-kilometre Suzuka circuit for his second career pole, ahead of
Schumacher's 1:29.711.
Massa, who earned pole before winning this season's Turkish GP,
also bettered the previous best time for a pole position of 1:31.317
Schumacher set in 2002, the year of Ferrari's domination when it won
15 of 17 races.
In contrast to Friday's early showers, the practice run took
place in brilliant sunshine. But the skies clouded during qualifying
and temperatures dropped.
Toyota's Ralf Schumacher (1:29,989) and Jarno Trulli (1:30.039)
were third and fourth, and will start on the second row ahead of
Alonso who clocked 1:30.371.
Schumacher's victory in Shanghai last weekend propelled him into
a share of first place with Alonso on the driver's standings after
trailing by 25 points with seven races to go.
The victory was the 91st of the German's career and his fifth in
the last seven races.
Alonso started the season by winning six of the first nine races,
the last coming in June at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Schumacher has clinched the F1 title twice in Japan _ in 2000 and
2003 _ beating McLaren's Mika Hakkinen once and McLaren's Kimi
Raikkonen once. Overall, Schumacher has won at Suzuka six times.
Alonso finished third here last year and Schumacher was fifth
behind Raikkonen.
Raikkonen was just 11th in qualifying, failing to make it into
the final qualifying section.
Alonso's Renault team is a point ahead of Schumacher's Ferrari
outfit in the constructors' championship at 179-178.
Sunday's F1 race is the last at Suzuka for a while as the
Japanese GP moves to the Fuji track next year.
