Few championships in any sport see the two leading competitors go into the 16th round as close as Niki Lauda and Alain Prost before Portugal in the '84 Formula One Drivers Championship. If Prost won, Lauda who had a 3.5 point advantage before the race, had to finish 2nd to clinch the championship. But Niki had a bad practice session and was in 11th place on the grid whilst Prost was in second grid position behind Nelson Piquet (on pole as usual). Even the most ardent fan of the tough and wily Austrian was having doubts about his ability to pull this one off!