F1 classic races - Japan

1994

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Benetton Ford), 3^rd: Jean Alesi (Ferrari)

SUZUKA 1994 began in truly awful conditions.  Michael Schumacher started on pole position, but nearly half the field fell off the road early on as aquaplaning took hold.  When Gianni Morbidelli and Martin Brundle went off heavily at the Degner complex; Brundle’s accident badly injuring a marshal, the race was eventually stopped.  Despite concern over a restart, the rain relented and the fans that stayed witnessed a battle of aggregate timing to decide the race between Schumacher and Damon Hill.  Hill’s one stop strategy gave him the time advantage, but on worn tyres, he was struggling against the fresher Benetton in fast diminishing light.  However, Damon held onto win by 3.3seconds and took the title showdown to that controversial finale in Adelaide.  Nigel Mansell had a similar exciting battle with Jean Alesi and passed the Frenchman into the chicane on the final lap.  However, on the timing rule, Alesi was the final driver on the podium.

1996

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

WITH a nine point lead over rookie team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill could only throw away the 1996 championship.  He qualified second, behind Villeneuve and people thought it would be a cautious drive.  However, he stormed into the lead from the start and despite an early vicious attack from Gerhard Berger, which left the Austrian needing to pit for damage, Damon was largely untroubled.  Villeneuve had a horrible start and dropped to sixth, struggling to keep up with Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine.  On lap 36, a rear wheel pitched off the Canadian’s car and sent him into the gravel trap.  Hill coasted home, ahead of outgoing champion Michael Schumacher and Hakkinen, leaving Murray Walker literally with a lump in his throat and the perfect way to end Grand Prix on the BBC chapter one!

1997

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Williams Renault), 3^rd: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)

HE WAS under pressure to deliver after some suspect performances in Austria and at the Nurburgring, but Michael Schumacher once again produced a stirring drive at Suzuka to win and take the title lead with one race to go.  His rival for the championship, Jacques Villeneuve, had to race under appeal after he had been initially excluded from the meeting following his fourth yellow flag infringement of the season during Saturday morning practice.  On Sunday, Villeneuve’s only intention was to destroy Schumacher’s race, but his plan backfired.  Ferrari’s plan was to get Eddie Irvine into the lead and pull enough of a lead out, so Villeneuve could not slow everyone down.  Better pit work from Ferrari got Schumacher ahead of the desperate Canadian, before Irvine slowed down and let his team leader through.  Damon Hill’s Arrows badly held Schumacher up in the closing stages, which gave Heinz-Harald Frentzen the chance to attack.  However, Schumi held on and with Williams dropping their appeal after the event, Villeneuve lost his two points for Suzuka and went to Jerez a point behind.  At least Frentzen’s ability to overhaul Irvine for second place in the race did secure the constructor’s championship for Williams.

2000

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes) 3^rd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes)

THIS was a true battle between the modern greats of the sport; Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.  Schumacher took pole position after a fierce scrap in qualifying, but like in 1999, Hakkinen made the better start.  They traded fastest laps throughout, as they left the rest standing.  David Coulthard, who came third, finished over a minute behind.  A sprinkling rain shower saw McLaren pit Hakkinen a bit earlier for his second stop.  He got held up badly behind Pedro de la Rosa’s Arrows and this allowed Schumacher to set the quick times required to get out ahead of his only title rival.  Mika kept pushing to the end, but Michael held his nerve to win the 2000 event and the world championship for the third time; Ferrari’s first driver’s title since 1979.  At last, the Schumacher/Ferrari combination had delivered and it started a new era of utter domination in F1.

2005

WINNER: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), 3^rd: Fernando Alonso (Renault)

PASS: Raikkonen is about to complete his epic drive in 2005

KIMI Raikkonen produced the finest win of his Grand Prix career, in a titanic 2005 race, one of the best ever in the history of the championship.  After wet qualifying, the likes of Raikkonen, new world champion Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya started near the back of the grid.  Montoya was eliminated on the first lap, crashing heavily out of the final corner while attempting an ambitious move around the outside of Jacques Villeneuve.  Alonso showed his determination, as he drove flat out around the outside of Schumacher’s Ferrari at 130R on lap 16 in a stunning move.  Gradually, Raikkonen hauled himself upto second place, but Giancarlo Fisichella still had a healthy 20 second cushion infront.  Alonso used more bravery to pass Mark Webber’s Williams on the grass with five laps remaining to snatch third, but Fisichella switched off and was powerless against the relentless Raikkonen.  Kimi charged upto his gearbox and then drove past him into the first corner around the outside of the Renault as they started the last lap.  This was a day when man and class in driver tolled over the usual combination of driver/machinery and kept the constructors championship battle alive to the finale in China.

2007 (Fuji Speedway)

WINNER: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: Heikki Kovalainen (Renault), 3^rd: Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

UNDER pressure from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton delivered a masterful performance to win in terrible weather conditions at Fuji Speedway.  With Suzuka’s facilities needing an urgent update, Fuji staged the event for two seasons (2007 & 2008).  The race began behind the Safety Car, with Ferrari’s curious decision to start on intermediate tyres sending their drivers to the back of the field.  Hamilton pitted later than Alonso when racing got underway and cleared some important traffic, which Fernando couldn’t.  Despite a collision with Robert Kubica, Lewis continued to pull away at the front whilst Alonso ended up crashing out of the event.  After another Safety Car, which saw youngster Sebastian Vettel blot his copybook and crash into the back of a furious Mark Webber, Hamilton drove away again as he pleased to earn a vital win.  Kimi Raikkonen produced a similarly great drive against adversity to finish third behind Heikki Kovalainen.  Kubica ended up with a drive-through penalty for his clash with Hamilton, before losing a ferocious last lap dice over sixth with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which had echoes of Gilles Villeneuve/Rene Arnoux at Dijon in 1979.