Hayden saw his long held world championship lead eliminated on the spot, with just one round to go, although the team-mates salvaged a thin working relationship after assurances from Pedrosa that he would do all he could to help Hayden at the Valencian season finale.
With Hayden duly winning the title, the potential disastrous Estoril incident was quickly glossed over - although the American admits it's back on his mind this weekend, especially after both he and Pedrosa were the innocent victims of a turn two clash last time out at Misano.
"So we're back in Portugal. It kinda makes me smile now to think about last year when I almost saw my dream of being world champion go out of the window there," claimed Hayden, who shed tears of fury following the incident. "So it would be nice to get a little bit of redemption this weekend.
"It's been a struggle at times this year and we've had some bad luck and made a few mistakes, so I am excited to go to Estoril and try to turn it around," said Hayden, who has taken three podiums during a difficult title defence. "My guys are doing some good work and we've been making some progress in the last few races. It's not like I'm under the same kind of pressure as last year so we'll just try to have fun, let it roll and see what we can do on Sunday."
Pedrosa had little to say about the 2006 clash, and is focussed on trying to catch
Valentino Rossi for second in the championship.
"Obviously the memories from last year's race are not great but that's behind us now and we'll go into the weekend with the normal approach and try to close the gap to second place in the championship," said the Spaniard, the only Honda rider to win a race so far this year. "It's so frustrating for everyone when you have a race like the last one at Misano, especially when it's out of your control, and so I know the guys in my garage are as keen as I am to go for the result we deserve in Portugal."
