Hakkinen seeking untainted title clincher

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

TOKYO (Oct 26, 1998 - 23:38 EST) - Above all else, Mika Hakkinen wants to
win this year's Formula One world championship without any hint of
controversy.

He wants to triumph, for himself, his McLaren Mercedes-Benz team and for
tire suppliers Bridgestone in a manner that will put behind him -- and the
sport -- the last decade of often-degrading final showdowns that have
threatened to bring grand prix racing into disrepute.

And, more often than not, the unique figure-eight circuit at Suzuka has
been the scene of the kind of collisions, rows and post-race arguments
which have led to so much notoriety.

This Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix confrontation between Hakkinen and
Ferrari's two-time world champion Michael Schumacher is also set for
Suzuka.

It was there, on Oct. 30, 1988, that the seeds of the modern, spectacular
and often acrimonious showdown races were sewn. After a season of mounting
rivalry Ayrton Senna claimed his first world title at the expense of his
McLaren teammate Alain Prost.

A superb drive in dreadful conditions assured Senna of victory and the
title which, after the final race in Australia won by Prost, he took by 90
points to the Frenchman's 87.

Senna's sheer commitment and sense of destiny ruled that day as the McLaren
pair came home separated by 13.3 seconds, but 36 seconds clear of the rest.

One year later, Suzuka was again the scene of a decisive race between the
feuding pair. But this time it was a spectacular and ill-tempered collision
which decided both the contest and the championship.

Prost had, for some time, treated Senna like he was an unwanted irritant in
the McLaren pit and the feeling was mutual. They did not speak for weeks at
a time and referred to one another as "him" or "the other
one".

By the time of the race on Oct. 22, they were metaphorically at each
other's throats again. Senna took pole position, with Prost alongside, but
the event was decided not by the start, or their speed, but by an
extraordinary collision at the chicane after 43 of the 53 laps. In the end,
only 10 of the 26 starters finished and the two McLarens were not among
them.

Prost's part in the accident, which took them both out of the race, was
questionable. Senna's looked worse. Needing a win to keep alive his hopes
of taking the title chase to Adelaide, Senna was chasing Prost when he
tried a move that always looked destined to see contact made between the
cars.

Prost, at the same time, tried to block Senna and the result was that both
crashed off the track. Prost stalled and quit, but Senna, after being
pushed and driving round the chicane, rejoined to lead and then win the
race.

He was later disqualified and victory was handed to Italian Alessandro
Nannini of Benetton amid uproar in Europe as well as Asia -- because the
FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre had pronounced the disqualification from
his home in France. Prost, a Frenchman, was declared the world champion.

Then, in 1990, came the worst -- or most spectacular incident -- of all
when Senna, seeking revenge for the previous year and leading Prost by 78
points to 69, decided to end the Frenchman's hopes as soon as possible.

Prost, then in a Ferrari, needed to win both in Japan and Australia. Senna
took the pole and, when told he had to start from the "dirty"
right side of the track, decided to ram Prost off at the first corner.

In one of the most infamous and deliberate "fouls" in the history
of the sport, that is exactly what he did. The race was over immediately.
Prost was stunned. Senna was champion for a second time.

"I never thought that even he could do this," said Prost. "I
thought it was supposed to be a sport, not a war. It's not only unsporting,
it is disgusting. As a man, he has no value now."

The race, incidentally, was won by Nelson Piquet.

In 1991, more uproar and astonishment at Suzuka came with the showdown.
This time, Senna walked it and "gifted" victory to McLaren
teammate Gerhard Berger who seemed both embarrassed and hurt at his
partner's arrogant gesture.

Afterwards, Senna used a stream of profanities to explain why he had done
it, how the FIA had chosen to undermine him in the past and admitted that
he had deliberately smashed Prost off the track the previous year.

Newly-installed FIA president Max Mosley of Britain adopted a more
diplomatic line on the whole matter.

In 1992, the championship was decided -- unusually early -- in Hungary
where runaway leader Nigel Mansell finished second behind an inspired Senna
to win his first and only title for Williams.

The following year, 1993, saw another early decision with Prost, back with
Williams after a year off, cruising home second behind Schumacher's
Benetton to clinch his fourth title.

Then came more major controversy in Adelaide in 1994 when Schumacher,
chasing his first world title in the season of Senna's death, collided with
Damon Hill's Williams to win the crown.

The accident bore all the hallmarks of a Senna-style act of belligerence,
but was denied by the German who took his first title at the end of a
season in which he had been black-flagged and disqualified from several
races.

Hill, typically, was stoic and sporting about his bold demise after
mounting a great surge in the second half of the season.

In 1995, Schumacher proved to be unstoppable and won the drivers' title
ahead of Hill by 102 points to 69. He clinched it in the showdown Pacific
Grand Prix at Aida in Japan, but had left Hill defeated long since with a
brilliant victory at the Nuerburgring a month earlier.

The following year, it was Hill's turn to rise and shine. He overcame the
challenge from Williams teammate Jacques Villeneuve to clinch the
championship in that year's title-decider at Suzuka, winning the race
convincingly after Villeneuve crashed out in the early stages.

If that was a satisfying afternoon for Hill, the 1997 showdown at Jerez,
Spain, was more so for Villeneuve as he survived a battering attack from
Schumacher's Ferrari to finish third and so lift the title again for
Williams.

It was a disgraceful and shameful day for Schumacher. His act of deliberate
intent was seen by millions and not only cost him his race and any chance
of the title, but it also marred his reputation and that of Ferrari.

Only a clean and sporting victory at Suzuka on Sunday can redeem him this year.

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