[sameerrao]

Quote from itv-f1.com

Schu blitzes final practice Saturday, 07, October, 2006, 04:37 Michael Schumacher threw down the gauntlet to his title rival Fernando Alonso by dominating the final practice session before qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. The seven-time champion, who has ratcheted up the pressure on Alonso in recent weeks by erasing his 25-point lead, simply blitzed the field on his new-tyre run at the end of the hour. He ended up a whopping 1.2 seconds clear of his nearest competitor – his brother Ralf’s Toyota – and 1.9s faster than Alonso. With Friday’s rain having given way to clear blue skies, the session provided the first true picture of dry-weather pace of the weekend so far – and it made uncomfortable reading for Alonso and Renault. The Bridgestone tyres on Schumacher’s Ferrari seemed to offer more grip on the ‘green’ track surface. The German’s car also looked more stable than the Renaults in the gusty conditions that made Suzuka’s fast, sweeping corners an even trickier proposition than usual. Perhaps most significantly for qualifying, his meteoric final flier suggested that Bridgestone may have the edge on Michelin here in terms of first-lap performance – critical at a circuit where the drop-off from the first to second laps on new rubber can be as much as 1.5s. Ralf Schumacher’s speed indicated that Toyota may have something up its sleeve for qualifying, and it would be no surprise to see the Japanese manufacturer opt for a light fuel load to upstage arch-rival Honda at the latter’s own track. But Jenson Button was hard on Schumacher’s heels in third place ahead of the Renault duo, both of whom made several set-up changes to their cars throughout the session but never quite found the sweet spot. Fisichella was struggling badly prior to his final run but vaulted up to fourth on the charts with a car that he reported felt more consistent than before, while Alonso complained of understeer and poor traction without betraying the slightest hint of panic. Nick Heidfeld was sixth fastest for BMW, three places ahead of team-mate Robert Kubica. Splitting the pair were Nico Rosberg, a strong seventh for Williams, and McLaren standard-bearer Kimi Raikkonen, with Felipe Massa rounding out the top 10 in the second Ferrari. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) languished in 18th and 20th places, a long way off their respective team-mates, while Sakon Yamamoto relegated his Super Aguri team-mate Takuma Sato to the bottom of the timesheets. Impressively, the entire field was covered by just four seconds around the demanding 3.6-mile circuit.