What Yvan Muller and Rob Huff have in common with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna?
The fact that they are racing for the same team, fighting for an FIA world championship title and facing a crucial confrontation on the Suzuka circuit in Japan.
In 1989 Prost and Senna were pretty much in the same situation; when the McLaren drivers arrived at the Japanese Grand Prix, the Frenchman was leading the championship by 16 points ahead of his team-mate who needed two victories at Suzuka and Adelaide to keep his hopes alive. On the 47th lap, while Senna was chasing Prost for the lead, the two McLaren cars made contact at the chicane.
Prost retired, while Senna rejoined and took the chequered flag first, but was later disqualified for cutting the chicane, which crowned Prost champion.
Taking into account that Muller and Huff exchanged a few attentions in some of the previous races (Porto and Donington), should we expect a similar ending at Suzuka?
Chevrolet Europe Motorsport Manager Eric Nève commented: “It is an exceptional situation to have drivers of the same team as the only title contenders. We will try and manage this in the fairest way possible by providing them the best cars and conditions to defend their chances. There won’t be any team orders. They will race each other hard, but it has to remain fair. I am sure we are going to see some exciting racing and I’m confident that Yvan and Rob will be able to avoid a close like that of the 1989 Japanese GP !”