Ferrari's Michael Schumacher brought his dominance of the Formula One season to a record-breaking close today with a commanding victory in Japan, his ninth win in 17 races.
The four times world champion powered from pole position to a 53rd career win and ended his season with an unprecedented tally of 123 points.
The victory made the German Formula One's all-time record points scorer with 801, seizing another statistic from France's Alain Prost.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was second in a Williams, ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard.
Coulthard secured the runner-up slot in the championship after Schumacher's team mate Rubens Barrichello finished fifth.
Two times champion Mika Hakkinen, Coulthard's team mate, was fourth in his last race before taking a sabbatical for 2002.
Ralf Schumacher took the last of the points in his Williams. Jarno Trulli finished eighth in yet another disappointing race for the Jordan team. Jean Alesi crashed out dramatically in his last Grand Prix while Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine also failed to finish as he experienced problems with refueling.