Wednesday March 8th, 2000

In an initiative created and implemented by MasterCard, Jordan's sponsor, 40 Australian F1 historians and journalists selected Alain Prost's dramatic victory over Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet in 1986 in Adelaide as the "MasterCard 'Priceless' Moment of the Australian Grand Prix". For many, the indelible image of the race was Mansell's left tyre spectacularly blowing out on the straight to end his bid for the title.

sProst's victory in Adelaide, making him the first man to win back-to-back titles since Sir Jack Brabham a quarter of a century before, was selected as MasterCard's "Priceless" moment from among a total of 15 Aussie Grand Prix moments as nominated by a panel of Australian F1 historians and media. With 40 ballots returned, the 1986 moment garnered a total of 117 points -- more than doubling the point total of the second-place moment.

The selection process awarded five points for first place votes, three points for second and one point for third place votes. In addition, the overall "Priceless" moment appeared on the most ballots, a total of 29, and received the most 1st and 2nd place votes with 17 and 10, respectively.

Rounding out the top three MasterCard "Priceless" Moments of the Australian Grand Prix are: Ayrton Senna's 1993 victory in Adelaide, the 41st career victory of his career and also his last. The victory, which gave McLaren their 104th -- surpassing Ferrari's all-time record of 103 -- received a total of 57 points, appearing on 17 ballots and receiving a total of six 1st place votes.

Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher's heated 1994 battle in Adelaide that left Hill watching from the pits as Schumacher became Germany's first World Champion finished third. The Hill/Schumacher duel received a total of 40 points and appeared on 14 ballots.