The 2002 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the 2002 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 13 October 2002. It was the seventeenth and final race of the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship. It is also the last race held on this layout. The 53-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari. Schumacher took pole position, led the whole race except during the pit stops, and set the fastest race lap. It was his eleventh win of the season and the fifteenth for the Ferrari team, thus equalling the record set by McLaren in . Teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second, with Kimi Räikkönen third in a McLaren-Mercedes. This was the last race for runner-up Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo, who had been in F1 since 1993 and 1994 respectively. It was also the last race for Alex Yoong and Allan McNish, though the latter could not participate in the race itself due to injuries suffered in a heavy crash during qualifying. Background With both drivers and constructors title already decided, the fight in the championships concentrated on the lower ranks. In the Drivers' Championship, Juan Pablo Montoya was 3rd, 5 points ahead of teammate Ralf Schumacher. For Ralf to take 3rd, he needed to either win the race, provided that Montoya finished lower than second, or to finish second with Montoya out of the point-scoring positions. David Coulthard had a slim chance of winning 3rd place but that could only happen if he won the Japanese Grand Prix with Montoya finishing 3rd or lower. Coulthard could take 4th in the Championship by finishing 4th and ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Further down, a number of drivers had a chance to improve their final ranking. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari, Williams and McLaren had secured 1st to 3rd. Renault had almost clinched 4th as Sauber would needed at least to win the race with their second car finishing in the points to take 4th. Four points separated four teams (Sauber on 11, Jaguar with 8 and both Honda runners BAR and Jordan with 7 points each) in a tough fight for positions, as the final ranking influenced how much a team received from the revenue of TV rights. Ferrari were expected to dominate this race. If Michael Schumacher managed to win the race, he would improve his record number of wins with