if Senna won in Adelaide he could still be declared champion if his disqualification from Japan was overturned. In a hearing in Paris the week after Japan, FISA had also labeled Senna as a 'dangerous driver' (citing a number of incidents involving the World Champion) and gave him a six-month suspended sentence, a decision that was met with criticism from many in the F1 paddock, including rival team bosses such as Ken Tyrrell. Most agreed the collision between the McLarens, while the culmination of the growing hostility between Prost and Senna that had been building since Imola, was nothing more than a racing incident and that Senna was being harshly punished by the governing body of the sport. Dennis also claimed that the charges and subsequent Paris hearing against Senna were farcical and that the stewards report of the incident had been "badly changed" from the initial one given in Japan. In other news, after pre-qualifying his car on the Thursday, Piercarlo Ghinzani announced his retirement from Formula One after 76 races. Ghinzani qualified 21st for his final Grand Prix. He had taken one points finish in his Formula One career, when he finished 5th at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix for Osella. At the drivers meeting before the race Ligier driver René Arnoux also announced his retirement from Formula One racing, at the age of 41. He qualified 26th and last for what would be his 149th start in Grand Prix racing having begun his career in . Qualifying Pre-qualifying report In his last appearance for the Osella team, Nicola Larini was fastest in pre-qualifying for the third Grand Prix in succession, and his team-mate Piercarlo Ghinzani pre-qualified third fastest in his final Formula One event. Both Osellas lapped inside the lap record. Philippe Alliot was second fastest in the Larrousse-Lola, with the Onyx of JJ Lehto in fourth, edging out his team-mate Stefan Johansson by just under a tenth of a second. It was Johansson's eighth pre-qualifying failure of the season. Sixth was the other Lola of Michele Alboreto, who had failed to qualify for any of the last three races of the season. Both Alliot and Alboreto left the team at the end of the season. Bernd Schneider was seventh in the Zakspeed, his fourteenth failure to pre-qualify in 1989. Roberto Moreno was eighth in his last appearance for Coloni, with Oscar Larrauri ninth for EuroBrun in