It felt a little like dizziness, the kind of light-headedness you get when you stand up too quickly. A woozy lurching feeling that rattled windows, sent television pictures wobbling and left tables a couple of inches from where you left them.
In the end it wasn't much of an earthquake, barely making a mark on the Richter scale coming in as it did at a paltry two by the time the tremors had reached Suzuka, but on a day on which the track action similarly failed to get the blood racing, it became the central topic of conversation.
Indeed, Friday here, in the heightened atmosphere of a potential championship showdown in a couple of days, had the feeling of nothing more than a minor pre-shock. Nothing to get fussed about, the real thing is on its way. You want tremors, well hold on. You might just get a doozy on Sunday.
By the end of yesterday's free practice sessions, the only tremors worth noting on track came from Mika Hakkinen's apparent lack of pace. By two o'clock the defending champion, eight points adrift of Schumacher going into the race and fully aware that the German can seal a historic championship win here, hadn't found what he was looking for - the speed and time to make Schumacher begin to doubt any feelings of inevitability. Indeed, the Finn's McLaren was, relatively, a country mile off, six tenths down on the Ferrari and looking skittish.
Hakkinen was having nothing to do with pressure talk though. "Yes, six tenths is a lot," he said seriously, before smiling the smile of a man with a couple of conjuring tricks up his sleeve.
"There's a famous saying in racing: `It's only Friday'. It does not mean much. We're confident that the work we have done with my car is good, the balance is reasonably good. I am struggling a bit in the last sector. They've modified the kerbs a bit in the last chicane so I'm still looking for the right line there.
"So I'm still looking for the best time. But we're heading in the right direction. There's a way to go. There are still a few places we can go quicker. I'm confident and very positive."
He even had time for a gag, not the most common occurrence from the Finn. When asked had he felt the tremor he quipped: "Sure, I was in the middle of a fast lap and would easily have set the best time today if it had not broken my concentration!"
While the movement of tectonic plates continued to occupy most minds the movement of Ferrari's teutonic star went almost unnoticed, but it's clear that Schumacher is in the groove. Quickest all day and unhampered by competition he was nonetheless unimpressed with the gap he had managed to pull out over the McLarens.
"I don't expect it to be the same tomorrow," he said. "They will improve. But I will too.
"The circuit seems to suit me and the car reasonably well and we're particularly strong in the first and third sectors," he added. "But you have to be very careful here. The most important thing for doing a good lap is getting the right rhythm, because with so many corners following in quick succession if you get one wrong the following one will also be wrong."
The rhythm established by Heinz Harald Frentzen in Indianapolis, where he scored a crucial third place for a Jordan team which has been under the cosh all season, seems to have crossed the Pacific and with Jarno Trulli sixth and Frentzen seventh yesterday, on a circuit he was a regular in his time as tester for Bridgestone, Jordan look well poised to make the challenge for fourth in the constructors' championship.
The picture was made rosier by the poor performance of Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz who limped to 16th and 19th respectively. Jordan are just three points behind the British team in the constructors' race.
"I feel today was very positive," said Trulli. "You can usually tell right from the beginning whether or not the car will be competitive and I'm certain we will be here. The car felt good all the way through and I think we can fight for fifth and sixth in qualifying tomorrow."
The threat to Jordan tomorrow may not come from Benetton, however. With the possibility of the lesser points positions being eaten by Williams, for whom Jenson Button was fifth yesterday, and with BAR's Jacques Villeneuve ninth and hungry for a good showing on Honda home turf, Jordan's pursuit of the points needed to put them in the fourth place ball park will not be without obstacles.
Meanwhile, away from the track, on a day when Jordan officially released Technical Director Mike Gascoyne to Benetton, team boss Eddie Jordan reaffirmed his desire to bring aerodynamicist Eghbal Hamidy to the team next year. In recent weeks, in response to rumours that the Arrows technician had been poached by Jordan, both Arrows principal Tom Walkinshaw and the technical director, Mike Coughlan, have insisted that Hamidy will see out the final year of his contract with the team in 2001.
Yesterday though Jordan admitted that he was still keen to bring the Iranian-born designer to Jordan, a statement which seems to suggest that talks may be still be on. He declined to elaborate on a timeframe for the transfer however, saying that he could not yet give a clear answer on whether Hamidy will be working with the team next season.
