Under-fire Eddie Irvine believes his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher can clinch a third drivers' crown. Irvine has promised to do everything he can to aid Schumacher in his battle with championship favourite Jacques Villeneuve in tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix.

The German, who trails by nine points, has to finish ahead of Villeneuve in their Suzuka showdown to take the contest to the last round in Spain in two weeks.

But Irvine, whose place in the Italian team was supposedly under threat following his criticisms of the Ferrari after the last race, reckons if anyone can pull the championship back from the brink it is Schumacher.

"There is no one apart from Michael capable of pulling a victory out of the bag," said Irvine. "He's showed that this season in places like Spa, Monaco and France.

"All he has to do is win this race and Jacques not to finish and the title is on again. He can still win it, though Williams have the advantage.

"My job will be to take points off Villeneuve - that's all I can do. But the Williams will be very strong here and I am sure Jacques will be competitive.

"But if Michael can get up there that will put pressure on Villeneuve and maybe force him into making a mistake.

"We know we will be better than we were in the last race, but we'll have to wait and see how competitive we'll be in the race."

Irvine's description of the Ferrari as being as "slow as a brick" after the last race in Germany inevitably led to speculation that he would be dumped by the team and replaced by former favourite Gerhard Berger.

But the 31-year-old went some way to answering his critics by clocking the fastest time in yesterday's opening practice session for tomorrow's race.

Irvine insisted afterwards that his place was never in any doubt. He said: "I was not worried. It's just the Italian press

"One day they are replacing me with (Jarno) Trulli, then it's Ralf Schumacher, then back to Trulli. Last week it was Gerhard Berger - it will be James Hunt next!"

Irvine finished just .008-of-asecond ahead of Jordan's Ralf Schumacher with Olivier Panis only 30-thousands-of-a-second further adrift despite a blown engine.

Michael Schumacher was 10th quickest, one place ahead of Villeneuve who does not fear any problems should he be behind Irvine on the grid for tomorrow's race.

"All I will be concentrating on is Michael," said the Canadian, who only needs to finish one point ahead of Schumacher to clinch the title. "I don't think we will have to worry about Irvine."

Sauber's Johnny Herbert was sixth quickest on the figure-ofeight track followed by outgoing world champion Damon Hill in the Arrows-Yamaha and McLaren's David Coulthard.

Hill is confident his reign will end on a high by giving Japanese tyre company Bridgestone the podium finish they crave in their own backyard.