McLaren rivals Alain Prost (right) and Ayrton Senna collided late in the race at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix while fighting for the lead, forcing Prost to retire while Senna went on to win the race—only to be disqualified afterwards which handed the title to Prost.

DPA /Suzuka, Japan

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are well aware of what happened at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix on the Suzuka course where they continue their fierce Formula One title fight on Sunday.

Both were only five at the time but the action-packed race 25 years ago marked the culmination of the bitter feud between McLaren rivals Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

The two collided late in the race while fighting for the lead, forcing Prost to retire while Senna went on to win the race—only to be disqualified afterwards which handed the title to Prost.

Now it is Hamilton and Rosberg who take their Mercedes title duel to the popular 5,807km course packed with passionate Japanese fans—but neither driver nor the team will want a repeat of their late August collision in Belgium or the scenes from 1989.

“Suzuka is one of the races on the calendar that drivers love the most—and arguably one of the greatest tracks in the world. There’s so much history and there have been so many defining moments there—like those unforgettable battles between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost,” Hamilton said. Rosberg agreed: “There’s so much history at this race.”

The long-time season leader Rosberg eventually acknowledged responsibility for the Spa-Francorchamps incident which left team officials fuming and sanctioning the German amid threats that more disciplinary action would follow in case of a repeat.

The following two races in Italy and Singapore went without incidents, and Hamilton won both to take the championship lead for only the second time in the season, a mere three points ahead of Rosberg. Now they came to Suzuka where neither of them has won (Hamilton’s 2007 win in Japan was in Fuji) and Rosberg has not even a podium finish while Hamilton was third in 2009.

Both drivers hope to overcome the negative trend, with Hamilton aiming to increase his lead while Rosberg wants to go back on top. “All the greats of Formula One have won at Suzuka since the sport first came there in the 1980s and I’m determined to add my name to that list this weekend,” Hamilton said.

Rosberg agreed that “a great result” is possible but the big unknown is reliability after a short circuit in the steering column circuits ruined Rosberg’s race in Singapore and forced him to retire early.

The German spoke of the “toughest moment of the year” and on Facebook posted a steering wheel his father—the 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg—used during his career, saying “it was so much easier in those days.”

Hamilton and Rosberg have each retired twice owing to technical problems this year, and there are fears that the shaky reliability could play in role in the championship with five races left.

“Hopefully we’ll now have a straight battle right to the flag (at the season-ender) in Abu Dhabi,” Hamilton said.

Team boss Toto Wolff said “Nico’s problems left us under no illusions that our reliability must improve” but added that everyone in the team is aware of what is at stake.

“We are now entering arguably the most intense phase of the racing season: the final quarter. Inside the team, motivation is stronger now than at any point so far this year. Every single one of us wants to finish 2014 in style,” Wolff said.

If all goes well, Mercedes could in fact clinch their first ever constructors’ title on Sunday, provided that Hamilton and Rosberg achieve an eighth season one-two finish and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel pick up no more than two points.

Ricciardo is the only driver apart from Hamilton (seven) and Rosberg (four) to win a race, three top spots from Canada, Hungary and Belgium.

Vettel won four of the past five races in Suzuka, and clinched the title there with a third-place finish in the other (in 2011), but, given his season-long struggles and Mercedes’ dominance, first place is all but ruled out.

JAPANESE GP BRACES UP FOR TYPHOON THREAT

A typhoon off the coast of Japan could threaten the Japanese GP, the sport’s official weather forecaster has warned.

Typhoon Phanfone, classed a category four storm, is lurking south of Japan over the Western Pacific ocean, forecaster UBIMET said, but was forecast to move north-west, packing maximum average winds of up to 240 kilometres per hour.

Although the storm is expected to pass south of Suzuka on Sunday, rain from the typhoon’s northern edge could drench the circuit, steadily increasing in intensity, on the morning of the race.

“There are still big uncertainties for the storm track in the coming days,” UBIMET said in a statement. “The current forecast track for typhoon Phanfone keeps the eye of the storm to the southeast of Japan on Sunday but with associated rainbands extending north towards Suzuka during the morning.

“Once it starts the rain is likely to be prolonged and become increasingly heavy. At this time, nothing too severe is expected before Monday.”

Suzuka has experienced extreme weather in the past. Saturday qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning in 2004 and 2010 because of excessive rain, with team mechanics famously racing paper boats down the pit-lane in the latter edition of the event.

At the moment it is unclear if the race will be brought forward.

But it is unlikely to be delayed if it cannot be held on Sunday as there is just a week’s gap to the maiden Russian Grand Prix in Sochi which is the next race on the calendar.