Saturday October 12th, 2002

By Timothy Collings

Michael Schumacher claimed the 50th pole position of his Formula One career today as a big crowd at Suzuka's famous fairground circuit bathed in warm sunshine, but the session was overshadowed by a chilling moment, an alarming high-speed accident from which Allan McNish was very lucky to escape uninjured. It meant that the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix was both shaken and stirred.

Schumacher, the quintuple champion who has dominated this season's competition almost at will, returned to his best form after clocking only the sixth best time on Friday in his Ferrari during a session split in half by a 65-minute interruption following Scot McNish's harrowing collision on the exit from the 130R corner.

McNish lost control of his Toyota as it mounted the kerb before it spun backwards, bounced off a gravel trap and made a shuddering impact with the barriers which broke asunder. It seemed that half of his car flew through the hole in the protective railings and onto the grass banking while the other half remained inside.

McNish, helped by marshals, staggered away, slumped with his head between his knees and then lay down prone on the grass before making a partial recovery, waving to the crowd and signalling he was alright.

Formula One's chief medical officer Sid Watkins said: "He had a big bang and he was a very lucky boy. We will need to take a close look at him. He might be okay after a night's sleep and then we'll see if he can do the warm-up and take part in the race."

The session ended in familiar fashion once the damage to the barriers was repaired with Schumacher and his Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello taking the front row for the Italian team ahead of Briton David Coulthard and his McLaren Mercedes-Benz teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Ralf Schumacher and his Williams-BMW teammate Juan Pablo Montoya took fifth and sixth places on the grid and there was a valiant effort by Takuma Sato who secured seventh for the Jordan-Honda team ahead of his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:31.317  229.482 km/h   9  
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:31.749    +    0.432  12  
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:32.088    +    0.771  10  
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:32.197    +    0.880   7  
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:32.444    +    1.127  10  
 6.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:32.507    +    1.190   9  
 7.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:33.090    +    1.773  11  
 8.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:33.276    +    1.959   9  
 9.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:33.349    +    2.032  11  
10.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:33.429    +    2.112   9  
11.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:33.547    +    2.230   7  
12.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:33.553    +    2.236  12  
13.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:33.742    +    2.425   9  
14.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:33.915    +    2.598   8  
15.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:33.979    +    2.662  11  
16.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:34.192    +    2.875  10  
17.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:34.227    +    2.910  12  
18.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:35.191    +    3.874   5  
19.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:35.958    +    4.641  11  
20.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:36.267    +    4.950   9 

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 06:18:04 GMT