Length: 5.807 km
Number of Laps: 53 (307.573 Km)
Best Lap: K. Raikkonen - 1'31''540 (2005, Mclaren)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'31''317 (2004, Ferrari)
2005 Pole: R. Schumacher - 1'46''106 (Toyota)
2005 Podium: K. Raikkonen - G. Fisichella - F. Alonso

The Briton was the first man out, fastest most often in the session and finished the hour with a best lap in 1:45.349 ahead of nearest rival Neel Jani of Switzerland in a Toro Rosso and German teenager Sebastian Vettel in his BMW Sauber.

Both Ferrari teammates Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa did not venture out at all on to the rain-hit track while Alonso and his Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella did only one installation lap each.

The session began in steady rain on a wet track. The air temperature was 22 degrees Celsius and the track temperature the same. The local Japanese fans, wrapped up in brightly-coloured sheets of plastic in the grandstands, sat it out stoically.

Davidson was the first driver out, his emergence marking the 20th successive Japanese Grand Prix on Honda's home track and also the last before the event moves to Mount Fuji next year.

In the opening minutes, Davidson was the only driver to reel off any successive laps as most of his normal Friday morning rivals were content to wait and see if the rain relented. Gradually, it did.

After 15 minutes, Williams's Alexander Wurz moved to the top of the times and stayed there for nearly 20 minutes before he was overhauled by Franck Montagny in a Super Aguri Honda.

Michael Ammermuller in a Red Bull Ferrari then clocked the best lap after 36 minutes before Davidson responded. By then, it had stopped raining, but there were still high plumes of spray being created by the cars.

Vettel appeared to be content to learn the track and was seen slithering in the rain several times as he found the limits of his BMW Sauber.

With 15 minutes of the session remaining, Montagny lost control at Turn 9 and went off into the gravel trap. He was unable to rejoin the action and Davidson, with his best lap of 1:45.349, continued to top the times.