JACQUES VILLENEUVE'S fine win in the Portuguese Grand Prix yesterday ensures that the 1996 World Drivers' Championship title race goes right to the wire and will be decided at the last Grand Prix of the season in Suzuka Japan, in three weeks' time. Scriptwriters couldn't have done it better.
Damon Hill flew home to Dublin with his wife Georgie, last night with neither of the major issues in his life decided - the world title - and who he drives for next year.
His runner up spot yesterday leaves him nine points ahead of the rookie Villeneuve, a tantalising single point short of the title.
Eddie Irvine broke a wretched run of luck with a solid fifth place. Rubens Barrichello ended his race in the gravel, while Martin Brundle brought his Jordan Peugeot home in ninth.
Hill shares his birthday, September 17th, with Stirling Moss, by far the most successful driver never to win the world title. The great English driver was runner up in the world drivers' championship four times on the trot in the 1950s. Hill must pray that a freak result in Japan does not give him his third runners up placing in a row and see him overtake Moss as the driver to win the most races but never win a drivers crown.
Hill was pleased enough to finish second yesterday, although a strong pole position - and some hard driving in the early laps made it look like victory would be his. "I had a good start this time and I had to lean on Alesi a bit to keep him behind on the run up to the first corner," said Hill last night.
"I was balancing tyre wear against speed. I was cable to keep Jacques behind me until the third pit stop. I went in ahead of him and came out behind him."
The Williams team changed Villeneuve's four tyres and added 12 gallons of fuel in eight seconds while a lap later the same exercise took 8.8 seconds on Hill's car. That difference meant Hill rejoining the race fractionally behind Villeneuve.
"Jacques did a great job in traffic," said Hill. "I couldn't stay with him in the last part. It had a small clutch problem for the last eight laps. I'm pretty happy with the result, though. Even if Jacques wins in Japan, all I have to do is finish sixth.
"Jacques was flying," said Hill. "He drove a great race today. To come from fourth after the start to win the race is no mean feat around here. There was no way I could stay with him. And then I got a warning about the clutch problems and I had to back off.
"I'd felt a couple of bad gear shifts. The pit didn't tell me to slow down but the alarm bells started ringing. You can imagine that I didn't want a mechanical failure on the car at that stage of the race.
"Of course before the race I couldn't help but think that I was within an hour and 45 minutes, perhaps, of becoming world champion. Now I'll have to wait until Suzuka to find out if it's going to happen. But I've waited all season. Longer than that, actually. So I can bear to wait the last three weeks. I'm looking forward to Suzuka. It should be very exciting.
Villeneuve admitted it will be a tall order to win the title in Japan. "I'll have to try to win the race and see what happens to Damon. Anything can happen."
"Nine points (behind) doesn't look very good, but anything can happen," he said. "Damon's car can break, or he can make a mistake - and that can happen to me, too. It's going to be a good battle.
It was Villeneuve's fourth Grand Prix win and kept alive a slim chance he could win the World Championship in his first season in Formula One, after leaving the US Indycar series as champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500.
Villeneuve admitted that "it looked a bit grim" early in the 70 lap race when he was lying fourth. Starting from pole, Hill had beaten off a passing move by Villeneuve and then one by Alesi and in the shuffle, Schumacher also got ahead of the Canadian.
Irvine finished his first race since May, bringing his Ferrari home in fifth, two places behind his team leader Michael Schumacher. "It's nice to finish, that's for sure," he said. "I enjoyed the dice with Berger," he added, referring to the wheel to wheel battle between the pair which saw them trading places over the last quarter of the race, with the Ulsterman coming out on top. "I think the testing I had last week and having the same spec car as Michael makes a difference."
The only compensation for Eddie Jordan was seeing the two Marlboro McLarens drive each other off the road and out of points scoring finishes when team orders of the type Jordan was criticised for a fortnight ago would have saved their day.
Brundle, who finished ninth, said: "The car was eating tyres. I needed four stops.
Barrichello changed his setup completely just before the race. "The car was much better then. I was going well in the race, chasing Berger for sixth. I had a bit of a gear selection problem and then I ran too close to Salo, locked the rear wheels and spun off."
Talk of Hill moving to Jordan continues, though the original deadline Jordan presented of last Friday has passed. Earlier reports of an announcement tomorrow now seem wide of the mark and the price Hill can expect - is now significantly lower than had the title been wrapped up yesterday.
"I haven't been involved with negotiations this weekend," said Hill. "I've been concentrating on the racing. Now I'll speak to Michael Breen [his manager] and get him to tell me what's been going on."
And Hill said he "has no thought of retirement - it doesn't pay so well."
Villeneuve's winning time for the 70 laps was one hour 40 mins 22.915 seconds at an average speed of 182.423 kph. He finished 19.996 secs ahead of Hill, with Schumacher 53.765 seconds behind.
The minor places went to France's Jean Alesi (Benetton Renault) after a long fight with Schumacher, Irvine and Alesi's teammate Berger, who was sixth after a minor collision with Irvine.
