Pride to play for in finale

Jean Alesi's 201st race may not necessarily be his last

The championships may be over but BBC motor racing correspondent Jonathan Legard argues that there is still plenty to fire the imagination in Japan.

No Murray Walker in the commentary box. No Jo Ramirez in the McLaren garage.

Indianapolis marked the end of the road for two of Formula One's most popular figures.

And this weekend's season finale in Japan sees two, if not three other notable names bow out.

Fresh from his exhilarating triumph in America, Mika Hakkinen will sign off at the circuit where he won his two world titles in 1998 and 1999.

If McLaren have improved the car, as Hakkinen hinted they would in the afterglow of his Indy victory, then his Suzuka swansong could be a treat.

Hakkinen savours his 1999 Suzuka triumph

He has been brilliant here, finishing first or second in the last three Japanese Grand Prix.

And whether he is only taking time out next year or winding down into retirement, a flying flourish by the Flying Finn would be a perfect curtain call.

Formula One's longest serving driver, Jean Alesi, looks like he is bidding sayonara after 12 years in the sport.

Takuma Sato's arrival, confirmed as Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan team-mate for at least the next two years, immediately cast doubt on Alesi's future - certainly as a frontline driver.

Eddie Jordan had insisted that a role drawing on his knowledge and experience could be found for him to stay on in 2002.

But Alesi has pitched all such talk through the window by announcing he is quitting on Sunday.

Watching cars, not driving them, has never been Alesi's style so the urge to stay behind the wheel may send him elsewhere, perhaps even America.

  Most F1 career races

Ricardo Patrese - 256
Gerhard Berger - 210
Andrea de Cesaris - 208
Nelson Piquet - 204
Jean Alesi - 200

He may also, of course, think differently when he has had time to cool off, and be happy when an F1 team like Arrows come calling.

Remember how many times Nigel Mansell said he was off, only to bounce back as if nothing had happened.

For a man frequently sent up as a typically temperamental Sicilian - and this latest incident, catching Jordan unawares, only adds to the legend - Alesi has entertained and finished in equal measure in 2001, and not even the world champion can say that.

If the 37-year-old keeps it together this weekend, he will become the first driver since 1964 to complete every race in a single season.

Unlike Hakkinen and Alesi, Michael Schumacher's former team, Benetton, will definitely disappear from Formula One following Suzuka.

Sold to Renault in 2000, and renamed by the French giant for 2002, the 1995 championship winners make their final appearance in the United Colours.

Benetton have reached the end of the road

That Schumacher inspired triumph against the mighty Williams machine was the highpoint of the Benetton family's 26-year association with F1.

Until recently the team spent much of this season scrambling about near the back of the grid, but at least they are finishing strongly.

It is all too late to lift them dramatically up the constructors' championship, but there is a chance they could snatch seventh place from Jaguar.

That statistic tells you how much they have slipped down the pecking order.

Nonetheless, Giancarlo Fisichella's podium finish in Belgium and some encouraging qualifying performances by Jenson Button have instilled hope that Renault's full scale return will add to, rather than tarnish, past glories.

The mid-grid scramble for points is one of the most eye-catching features of the weekend.

Yes, Michael Schumacher could equal his and Mansell's record of nine wins in a season.

  Benetton in F1

1986: Sixth - one win
1987: Fifth
1988: Third
1989: Fourth - one win
1990: Third - two wins
1991: Fourth - one win
1992: Third - one win
1993: Third - one win
1994: Champions - 8 wins
1995: Champions - 11 wins
1996: Third
1997: Third - one win
1998: Fifth
1999: Sixth
2000: Fourth

Yes, Rubens Barrichello could deprive David Coulthard of second spot in the drivers championship.

But the bare-knuckle contest over fifth place facing Jordan and BAR - level on 17 points pending Trulli's appeal against disqualification in America - could be just as gripping.

Points mean money, prestige, sponsors and marketability.

Being in Japan means being under the Honda spotlight to perform at the end of a year in which they have both underachieved.

Whatever their respective contracts say, the speculation that one or other will lose their engine deal will not go quietly.

Jordan have just signed BAR's test driver, Takuma Sato. BAR enjoyed that as much as they enjoyed Indianapolis.

"That was our worst performance over the last three years," team principal, Craig Pollock admitted.

His mood was not helped by gossip that Jacques Villeneuve, who got engaged to a 19-year-old American ballet dancer on the Friday of Indianapolis, parked up in the race.

BAR and Jordan go head-to-head in the race for points

It sounds like Villeneuve got the message.

"It's worth it to pour the energy in and finish the season on a high note," he said ahead of the team's 50th grand prix.

"That will really help everybody work on the new car in November and December."

The stakes are as high as they have ever been in Formula One.

Manufacturers want results. And in the case of Honda, the sooner the better, as their key rivals Toyota join the grid next year.

Since the flag fell on Michael Schumacher's fourth world championship in Hungary, there has not been a dud race.

While Suzuka may not carry the cliff-hanger significance it has over the last few years, such a classic track surely will not allow the season to peter out.