Now the world Formula One drivers' championship comes down to one race -- Sunday's Australian Grand Prix on the Adelaide street circuit. Winner take all.
Schumacher leads the championship with 92 points. Hill has 91.
Hill's victory in his Williams-Renault at last week's Japanese Grand Prix left the Englishman needing to score two more points than his German rival Sunday. A victory is worth 10 points, with the next five places worth six, four, three, two and one points.
A one-point margin would leave the pair tied and would give Schumacher the title on the basis of his superior number of wins.
Schumacher has won eight races this season in his Benetton-Ford, while Hill has recorded six victories. Schumacher and Hill have between them won every race bar the German Grand Prix this season, so complete has been their dominance. Gerhard Berger won the German race in his Ferrari.
In qualifying laps Friday, British veteran Nigel Mansell upstaged the championship contenders by grabbing the provisional pole position.
Schumacher crashed heavily in a dramatic opening qualifying session but escaped unhurt. Mansell, 41, had the fastest time in his Williams of one minute and 16.179 seconds on the demanding 3.780-kilometer Adelaide street circuit.
The time gave him the overnight pole position and left Schumacher, bidding to overhaul the Englishman's time on his final fast lap, alongside him on the provisional front row.
The showdown between Schumacher and Hill will mark only the second time in the 10-year history of the Adelaide race that the world championship will be decided in Australia.
Alain Prost won in 1986, taking the title ahead of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet. Schumacher, 25 and prodigiously talented, had a chance to clinch the title in Japan but faulty pit-stop strategy cost him dearly.
"I would be much happier if the championship was over, but that is not the case," said Schumacher.
Schumacher leads despite being suspended from two races for ignoring a black flag during the July 10 British Grand Prix. He triumphed in six of the first seven races of the 16-race season.
The Monaco-based German is aiming to become the youngest world champion since Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil triumphed in 1972.
Hill, 34, the son of former two-time world champion the late Graham Hill, took over as No. 1 driver for the Williams-Renault team after Ayrton Senna was killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in May.
He has won four of the last five grands prix in a searing late-season surge.
Hill has vowed not be distracted by his ongoing and acrimonious contract wrangle with the Williams-Renault team.
Hill's current contract reportedly was formulated when he was a test driver and he said last week at Suzuka that he wants a new contract agreed upon as soon as possible.
"I'm looking forward to racing in Adelaide, beating Michael Schumacher and becoming world champion," he said.
"I think we have a very good chance of not only beating Michael here, but winning the race.
"It's going to be thrilling for everyone and it's great that the championship has come down to the last race."
The constructors' championship also will be decided on the Adelaide street circuit. Williams-Renault currently has 108 points to Benetton-Ford's 103.
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