| | LONDON -- Mika Hakkinen could retain his title at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix and also deliver the closest finish in the history of Formula One.
If the McLaren driver wins at Suzuka and Ferrari's Eddie Irvine finishes second -- as they did last year -- the two will close the season tied on 76 points after 16 rounds and eight months of racing.
But the Finn, who currently trails Irvine by four points, will keep the crown he won in Japan last November because he will have won five races to the Briton's four.
|  | | Mika Hakkinen still has a good shot at his second straight Formula One championship. |
It may be even closer in the end.
If Hakkinen were to finish third and Irvine fail to win any points, they will both be tied on four wins and two second places each as well.
So back to third places -- and Hakkinen again emerges as champion with three so far to Irvine's two.
Otherwise, Irvine will be Ferrari's first champion since
1979 by a comfortable enough margin if he can beat Hakkinen.
The previous closest finish to a season occurred in 1984 when Austrian Niki Lauda beat Frenchman Alain Prost by just half a point -- a tally rendered possible only because the Monaco Grand Prix was stopped due to rain after 31 of 77 laps.
Prost won in Monte Carlo, and with nine points available to the winner in those days, was awarded half the score.
With the title in the balance, the role of the Ferrari and McLaren teammates is crucial in Japan.
Were Germany's Michael Schumacher to win at Suzuka, as he has done twice before, Irvine could finish fourth behind both Hakkinen and his McLaren teammate David Coulthard and yet still be champion by one point.
Schumacher, twice a world champion with Benetton, knows all about close finishes to the season and the tactics that can make or break a team's hopes.
In 1994, Schumacher was involved in one of the most controversial finales ever when he and Damon Hill contested the Australian Grand Prix with just one point between them.
Two thirds of the way through the race in Adelaide, Hill tried to slip past the German, who had damaged his car.
Schumacher's Benetton lurched into the Williams, taking Hill out of the race. Schumacher was champion for the second time.
The German tried a similar manuever in 1997 when he led Jacques Villenueve by one point going into the final race in Spain. Whenl the Canadian tried to go past him, Schumacher turned on Villeneuve. But the Canadian continued, while
Schumacher bounced into the gravel and out of the race.
Irvine's words after that incident are perhaps worth recalling ahead of Suzuka: "Honestly, I think we would all have done the same," he said of his teammate. "But I like to think I would have made a better job if it."
Close finishes
1956: Juan Manuel Fangio vs. Peter Collins
Fangio led by 30 points going into final Italian Grand Prix, but under the points system the Argentine driver could only increase his tally by winning the race. Collins had 22 and fellow Brit Stirling Moss 19. Collins could take the title if
he won the race and teammate Fangio did not finish.
But when Fangio retired, Collins stopped and selflessly handed over his car to Ferrari's senior driver.
Points: Fangio 30, Moss 27
1958: Mike Hawthorn vs. Stirling Moss
Briton Hawthorn had to finish second in Morocco to beat compatriot Moss. Moss led all the way, but in the final stages Ferrari's U.S. driver Phil Hill waved teammate Hawthorn through into second place to become champion.
Points: Hawthorn 42, Moss 41
1959: Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks
The first three-way battle for the title took place at Sebring in Florida. Australian Brabham won after pushing his car, which had run out of fuel 800 meters from the finish line and took fourth. Moss could have won, but his gearbox failed.
Points: Brabham 31, Brooks 27
1964: Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jim Clark
The final Mexican Grand Prix saw Hill start on 39 points, Surtees on 34 and Clark on 30. Clark led until the last lap, when his car failed. Hill, down the field, then seemed certain to take the title, but Ferrari's Lorenzo Bandini slowed and
allowed Surtees to take second place and the title.
Points: Surtees 40, Hill 39
1976: James Hunt vs. Niki Lauda
Austrian Lauda crashed his Ferrari at the Nuerburgring, suffering severe burns. He missed three races, but returned and led Briton Hunt by three points heading into the final race at Mount Fuji. Heavy rain fell before the delayed start and Lauda decided
to pull out on the second lap for safety reasons. Hunt continued
and, after a late pit stop to change a punctured tire, finished
third and secured the title by one point.
1981: Carlos Reutemann vs. Nelson Piquet
Argentine Reutemann led his Brazilian rival by one point before the final race in a Las Vegas parking lot. Reutemann took the pole, but finished seventh. Piquet was fifth and champion.
Points: Piquet 50, Reutemann 49
1986: Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet
Mansell led Prost 70-64 with the Briton needing just a third-place finish to be champion. But Mansell suffered a catastrophic puncture at high speed in Adelaide and went out.
Brazilian Piquet took over, but Williams, worried by Mansell's blowout, called him in for a tire change. The stop allowed Prost to win the race and title.
Points: Prost 72, Mansell 70, Piquet 69 | |
ALSO SEE
Irvine ready to emulate Hill, Hunt
Ferrari's Formula One champions
McLaren's Formula One champions
 |
