Alan Henry Grand Prix
World championship leader Eddie Irvine this week turned up the psychological pressure on his rival for the drivers’ title, Mika Hakkinen, effectively warning the Finn not to try any dirty tricks in the deciding Japanese grand prix at Suzuka on Sunday.
Just days after Irvine’s Malaysian grand prix victory was restored in a Paris court of appeal, the Ulsterman said he was ready for anything. He believed Hakkinen and his McLaren team-mate David Coulthard might “play games and push me back into the clutches of the Stewarts, Williams and Jordans”.
Irvine said this could “cause problems” and added: “We have got to be very careful. We cannot afford to relax.”
The irony of his remarks will not be lost on Hakkinen and the McLaren team. In the Malaysian race, Irvine’s Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher spent the opening laps attempting to slow the Finn so he would be caught by the Stewarts of Johnny Herbert and Rubens Barrichello.
Soon after arriving in Japan, Irvine said he would benefit from his local knowledge of Suzuka, a track on which he raced Formula 3 000 cars regularly from 1991 to 1993.
“Suzuka is my favourite circuit,” the 33- year-old said. “It’s like my home grand prix because I raced in Japan for three years. I had a lot of fun here and I have enjoyed coming back.”
But Hakkinen also has a superb record at Suzuka. In 1993 he finished third there on only his second drive for McLaren, behind his team-mate Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s Williams. In 1995 he was second behind Michael Schumacher’s Benetton three weeks after having his appendix removed, while in 1998 he clinched his first world championship there with a flag-to-flag victory. Despite this Irvine knows the Finn, who trails him by four points, has the odds stacked against him.
Ferrari’s strategy will again make use of Schumacher in the second Ferrari F399. The German will probably go all out for a win with Irvine sitting behind Hakkinen in third or fourth, enough to give him the title by one or two points.
Irvine concluded: “If Mika breaks down at the start, then I can really have fun because I really love the circuit. It will be the greatest way to go into the race and I can go crazy.”
Johnny Herbert, who will be Irvine’s team-mate next season at Jaguar Racing, gave the brash and at times abrasive Ulsterman mixed support in his title quest. “Eddie can do it,” he said, before adding: “There have always been some drivers who everyone has said were worthy of the title or not. In some ways Eddie will be worthy of the title, but in some ways maybe not – with his character, probably not.”
Sunday’s race will be the closest world title decider in Formula One history. Irvine will start the final event of the season four points ahead of Mika Hakkinen. There are three permutations which will produce a dead-heat, with Hakkinen taking the title on a tie- decider in all cases.
The closest previous finish was in 1984 when Niki Lauda beat his McLaren team-mate Alain Prost by half a point, an arithmetical anomaly produced by Prost winning 4,5 points rather than the usual nine after that year’s Monaco grand prix was stopped at half-distance due to torrential rain.
If Hakkinen wins the race with Irvine finishing second – the order in which they completed last year’s Japanese grand prix – then they dead-heat on 76 points. Hakkinen takes the title with five wins to Irvine’s four.
Were Hakkinen to come second, with Irvine fifth, they are equal on 72 points and Hakkinen takes the title with three second places to Irvine’s two.
Finally, if Hakkinen finishes third and Irvine fails to score, they will both have 70 points and yet again Hakkinen retains his championship with four third places to Irvine’s two.
Nevertheless on the face of it the situation favours Irvine, who goes into the race four points ahead of the beleaguered Hakkinen. The Ulsterman is taking nothing for granted. “Some people seem to think I have won the championship already because of this verdict,” said Irvine after arriving in Tokyo at the weekend having flown back to Europe to attend the appeal court hearing.
“What happened in Paris is just the first step of the final part of the championship. The hardest part is yet to come and we have to do the best possible job to try and win in Suzuka.”