The 37-year-old Frenchman had promised to treat his many fans to a final flourish after announcing his retirement earlier in the week.

The Jordan driver began to keep his word immediately, beaming with satisfaction after giving the crowd their money's worth in an eventful session on a sunny afternoon at Suzuka.

He may well have been helped by a low fuel load, while others worked on setup, but nobody was begrudging him his moment in the limelight.

The Frenchman's time of 1:35.454 was well inside Michael Schumacher's 2000 pole-winning mark of 1:35.825 and half a second quicker than the Williams of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.

"For sure it is going to be the fastest weekend in my life," Alesi said afterwards. "I really love motor racing, I need it and I want to stop in the best way."

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was third for Jaguar in 1:36.225.

Big crashes
Finland's Mika Hakkinen, who is taking a year's break after the weekend and may ultimately decide not to come back at all, was fourth fastest.

His McLaren teammate David Coulthard, second overall in the standings, was seventh quickest.

The second session was halted with 15 minutes remaining, and before Alesi's fast lap, to clear up the mess left when German Nick Heidfeld spun his Sauber at speed into the tire wall. Heidfeld climbed quickly from the smoldering wreckage, his car left stranded in the middle of the track with its nose and front wheels ripped off, and sprinted for safety.

The day's first outing had also seen the red flags waved right at the end when Tomas Enge crashed his Prost heavily into the tire wall. The Czech's car slid sideways, the impact ripping both right-side wheels off before it came to a halt in the gravel in a cloud of smoke and debris.

The team said he had been "trying a little too hard."

Enge, preparing for his third grand prix since he replaced Luciano Burti following the Brazilian's serious crash in Belgium, was unhurt but did not go out for the afternoon session.

Ferrari's Schumacher, who wrapped up the world championship in Hungary in August, was fastest in the morning. But the German, who completed 35 laps in all, ended the day only eighth fastest, just ahead of his brother Ralf in a Williams.