DAMON HILL and Jacques Villeneuve are expected to avoid another controversial climax to the Formula One drivers' championship this weekend. However, the duo will not be specifically warned off using dirty tactics in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix even though the title is at stake.
Hill leads Villeneuve by nine points and would be crowned champion if he shunted his Williams team-mate off the circuit. Otherwise, the Englishman needs only one point to secure the title.
The FIA, the sport's governing body, will not take any preventative action in the form of a pre-race warning to the drivers, believing both will keep it clean.
The Japanese Grand Prix has been the scene of two controversial finishes to the championship in recent years, both involving Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Prost took the title in 1989 after a mid-race collision with Senna, although the Brazilian got his own back a year later to win the championship by ramming the Frenchman off at the first corner.
Hill lost out on the title by one point two years ago after a collision with Michael Schumacher in the final race at Adelaide.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)