Dennis: Let's have a fair fight

The McLaren team boss prefaced the penultimate round of the series at Sepang in Malaysia with a plea for Ferrari to play fair.

'I do not expect professional fouls from either of the teams,' said Dennis. 'Ours is a sport which is increasingly in the spotlight.

'The outcome of the world championship should be fair and I don't think we will see any of the teams using their second driver in an aggressive way.'

Dennis, speaking on the day that Michael Schumacher returned from a three-month lay off to help Eddie Irvines title aspirations, wants to avoid a repeat of the controversial accidents that have marred recent championships.

The double champion has been involved in a series of controversial incidents over the last few years.

In 1994, he pushed Damon Hill out of the final race in Australia to win the world title by a single point.

Three years later he drove into Jacques Villeneuve when the Canadian tried to pass him at the crucial race in Spain.

That time Schumacher was sanctioned for his actions and stripped of second place in the championship.

But the history of spectacular crashes in decisive races goes back even further.

Ayrton Senna drove into arch-rival Alain Prost a year after the Frenchman was accused of driving into him in Suzuka to win the world title in 1990.

Suzuka will he the scene of the last race if the title is not decided on Sunday.

Even without resorting to underhand tactics both Dennis and Johnny Herbert, a former team-mate to Schumacher and winner of the last round in Germany, acknowledge the importance of the role the German could play.

'Schumacher can contribute greatly to Ferrari in the constructors championship,' said Dennis.

'He can help Eddie by taking points off both of our drivers and influence dramatically the finishing positions.'

Herbert agreed. 'This is a crunch race for the championship and Michael can have a significant effect on the outcome.

'But it will be fascinating because he can also take points off Eddie at the same time if he finishes in front of everyone,' he added.