Yes the 1990 race was popular among fans due to the intense rivalry and action between Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna and French driver Alain Prost.

Before I tell you the story of what happened, let us have a short look on the past. Exactly a year ago in 1989, Senna and Prost were in tight competition to secure the Formula 1 championship. Prost had taken the lead and Senna was fighting from behind. At lap 40 Senna caught up to Prost. For the next 5 laps the gap between them remained exactly at 1 second. It was intense. After the 130R curve Senna cut Prost’s lead greatly and was now a cars length behind. Just after this curve was the chicane, and Senna dived alongside Prost to overtake him.

Prost saw this move and turned his car across the track to block Senna, unfortunately both made contact. With both the cars' wheels locked, the engine stalled and the two cars slid to a halt at an escape road.

Prost retired from the race thinking his championship was secured, however Senna had other plans. Senna waved at the track marshals to push his car down the escape road, then he used the forward motion of the car to restart his engine, it fired immediately and Senna was on his way to gain points for the race. This angered Prost and he went running to the FIA officials. Senna had won that race but after the race was over he was handed an ugly disqualification by the race stewards. Senna believed that the decision was made in favor of Prost by the FISA president Jean Marie Balestre who was also French.

1990 Japanese Grand Prix

In the 1990 race Ayrton Senna was on pole and wanted the more cleaner side of the track and also that side of the track was also on the racing line. However the default pole position was on the dirty side. This would not help Senna at all to start the race and take a good lead. He appealed to the FIA, however just before the race the FIA with decision from the FISA president Jean Marie decides that no changes will be made to the pole position car. This shocked and got Senna angry. Senna vowed to take the lead in the first lap by whatever means it took, meaning he would even crash into Prost to prevent him form leading the race.

The race started and what Senna had feared happened, Prost was gaining on him at the start and then both their cars made contact in the first corner sending both of them to instant retirement. Prost was furious about the incident, not only had Senna destroyed his race but Senna also clinched the championship since he was already leading it. Fans say that this was the ultimate revenge by Senna for the unfair punishment he got in the previous year’s race.