When was the last time Michael Schumacher was off the podium for two races in a row? And, more so, when was the last time he finished two consecutive races off the podium? Besides, what was special about the Malaysian podium and what does history tell us about the upcoming race in Brazil? Marcel Schot brings the answers and more anecdotes on the third Grand Prix of the 2003 season

What a surprising podium we had in Malaysia. It was the youngest podium in the history of Formula One - with 25 years, 4 months and 17 days, the average age was a little over four months younger than the podium of the 1974 Belgian Grand Prix. Moreover, Kimi Raikkonen was the first Grand Prix winner under the age of 25 since David Coulthard won the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix. And, Renault driver Fernando Alonso became the youngest driver in Formula One history to finish on the podium.

Raikkonen's win also means that there are now nine Grand Prix winners among the active drivers. However, of the currently active drivers, only three winners are below the age of 30 (Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Raikkonen).

Perhaps surprisingly, Raikkonen is only the 14th McLaren Grand Prix winner. With 137 wins for the team, the average is nearly 10 wins per driver. But one of the 35 drivers to never win in a McLaren had his most famous moment at Interlagos, where this week's race will be driven: Michael Andretti.

Andretti arrived in Formula One much in the same way that Jacques Villeneuve later would do. He very successful in the American ChampCar racing series, and in addition carried the name of a legendary Formula One pilot. However, unlike Villeneuve, Andretti Junior's debut race at Kyalami was rather disasterous, with a gearbox problem at the start dropping him from ninth to the back of the field, and a collision ending his race before it had started.

Andretti wanted to make it better in his next race, the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. On Friday, things didn't look much better than they were in the first race. While his teammate Ayrton Senna clocked the third fastest time, Andretti suffered from understeer and only managed 11th. On Saturday things went a lot better and even though his best lap was far from perfect, a fifth position on the grid showed considerable progress.

However, when the flag dropped, both Saubers behind Andretti made a much faster start than the American. JJ Lehto easily passed the McLaren, while Karl Wendlinger managed to reach the first corner alongside Andretti. Wendlinger moved to the right to avoid those in front of him. Andretti's instinctive reaction was to move away from the Sauber. However, he did this a little too enthousiastically as he didn't see Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger on his outside.

As Andretti's car struck the Ferrari with full force, the cars became entangled and slid off the track at high speed. The McLaren hit the tyres barrier backwards and was then struck by the Ferrari. On the rebound Andretti's car leaped into the air, somersaulting right over the Ferrari and striking the top of Berger's car on the way down.

Andretti was taken to hospital with a sore back, but was declared fit for the next race. However, the Brazilian disaster more than likely had already made up many people's minds. After three quarters of the season Andretti was replaced by Mika Hakkinen, and he hasn't driven a Formula One race since.

With Michael Schumacher off the podium for two straight races, many of his critics breathe a sigh of relief - every race the German loses points increases the chance that he won't score his sixth title. In fact, the last time Schumacher was not on the podium for two straight races was in 2000, when he retired from the Austrian and German Grands Prix. And 2000 was hardly an easily won World Championship for Schumacher...

Moreover, Schumacher's retirement in both these 2000 races was preceded by a third retirement, in the French Grand Prix, which meant the German didn't score a single point in three consecutive races. So anything's still possible.

As for two consecutive races which saw the German finish but off the podium - we have to look even further back: it hasn't happened since he scored two consecutive sixth places in Italy and Austria in 1997!

Nevertheless, where Brazil is concerned, Schumacher's history is bright: in ten out of eleven starts the German finished on the podium. Then again, Malaysia proved that past statistics are not a guarantee - and Schumacher's previous four consecutive poles didn't guarantee him another - so don't count on Schumacher's Brazilian history to necessarily repeat itself. And in fact, knowing that stats can turn around should certainly give Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello hope: until now he retired in eight (of nine) Brazilian races.

Another driver who surely doesn't go to Brazil with fond memories of past races is Juan Pablo Montoya. Last year the Colombian lost his front wing as he clashed with Michael Schumacher, while the year before he lost his rear wing after having been torpedoed by then Arrows driver Jos Verstappen.