Kimi Raikkonen and team mate David Coulthard headed the practice times in their McLarens after Friday's two one-hour sessions.  For DHL Jordan Honda Giancarlo Fisichella crept into the top 10, the fastest of the Bridgestone runners after Ferrari, while local hero Takuma Sato was 13th quickest.

Practice was marred by two significant accidents with Jacques Villeneuve crashing his BAR at the exit of Spoon corner during the first session and Juan Pablo Montoya going off in his Williams during the second.  Villeneuve appeared to lose control of his car over the kerb at the exit of the corner, spearing off on the inside and hitting the barrier hard.  This accident caused the first session to be stopped while the debris was cleared, but the BAR team did well to repair his car in time for him to get back out before the end of the second session.

Montoya ran wide at the entrance to a fast right hander after the first sequence of right-left-right curves, bouncing across the gravel trap and hitting the wall.  The Columbian realised the accident was going to be bad, holding his helmet with both hands as the Williams smashed into the barrier causing quite severe damage.  Like Villeneuve, Montoya was fortunately unhurt.

Takuma Sato was another to suffer a spectacular moment, though fortunately not ending in an accident.  Half was through the second session he performed a high speed 360 degree spin over one of Suzuka's unforgiving kerbs but recovered well.  Sato is clearly relishing racing on home ground and his popularity among local fans is obvious from the banners and flags in the grandstands around the track.

While McLaren dominated practice, Raikkonen using new tyres and possibly a lower fuel run to set his quickest time, the Ferrari team were down in 3rd and 6th with Michael Schumacher behind team mate Rubens Barrichello.  Jean Todt reported that Michael was 'resting' during the second session, the World Champion opting to do relatively few laps during the day.  The Williams pair split the Ferraris, while the two Jaguars were 7th and 8th with Eddie Irvine just in front of team mate Pedro de la Rosa.  The top ten was completed by Jarno Trulli and fellow Italian Fisichella.