Hakkinen wants clean fight for Formula One season-ending race

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Associated Press

SUZUKA, Japan (Oct 28, 1998 - 17:14 EST) -- Finnish driver Mika Hakkinen is
sure Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix will be such a clean race he will secure
his first Formula One world title without anyone crashing into him.

"I believe it will be a completely fair fight this time," the
30-year-old Finn said. "That's what everybody wants, and everyone in
the world will be watching."

It helps that all he needs is second place. He holds a four-point lead over
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher going into the season-ending race.

"Michael cannot take any risks. He has to finish the race because if
we both retired I'd still have more points than him and win," said
Hakkinen, who hopes to hand McLaren its first constructors title since
1991.

Hakkinen brushed off questions about any possible dirty play from his
German rival -- although he acknowledged some have pointed to a Formula
Three race 10 years ago in Macau when the two racers crashed.

"We don't want people pointing the finger afterward. It is a very
critical position going into the race, but nobody will want to risk an
accident," Hakkinen said.

In the season-ending Grand Prix last year in Jerez, Spain, Schumacher
rammed Jacques Villeneuve in what was widely viewed as a deliberate attempt
to knock him out of the race and win the title. But it was Schumacher who
slid out of the race and Villeneuve went on to clinch the title.

In 1989 at Suzuka, Artyon Senna and Alain Prost collided, and a year later,
Senna drove Prost off the track at the first corner to clinch the title. In
1994 in Adelaide, Schumacher collided with Damon Hill to win the title.

Hakkinen was firm, however, that whatever happened in the past will have no
effect on the Suzuka race.

"I have never done dirty on the track and I never will -- that is not
my style. But it is not something I am worried about with Michael," he
said.

Two-time world champion Schumacher is predicting he will capture his third
with a victory Sunday.

Schumacher has reason to be confident on the difficult Suzuka course. He
won the Japanese Grand Prix last year for Ferrari and in 1995 while driving
for Benetton. But to beat Hakkinen, he may also need the help of teammate
Eddie Irvine. Irvine has said he is aiming to finish second behind
Schumacher.

If the German wins and Hakkinen finishes no better than third, Ferrari
would have its first championship driver since Jody Scheckter in 1979 and
its first constructors title in 15 years.

Schumacher's name would also be added to the elite list of drivers who have
won the world championship three times. Only five have done that -- the
late Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Nelson
Piquet. Alain Prost won four, and Argentine pioneer Juan Manuel Fangio had
five.

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