With almost two months gone since the end of the 2003 season and three months left before the 2004 season begins, the countdown to the Australian Grand Prix is running strong. However, this is Formula One, and behind every number there is always a story - so every day until the race in Melbourne, Atlas F1 will bring the numbers and the story behind them... Don't forget to check this page for a new addition every day!

The March 87P marked the return of March to Formula One after a ten year hibernation. However, the car was never intended to race. When March decided to come back towards the end of 1986, time was too short to build a new car. As the team had to be present at the first race in Brazil to qualify for FOCA membership, the decision was made to take an old Formula 3000 car and add the parts of the new 871 that were finished; the bodywork and the suspension.

First practice wasn't even that bad. Ivan Capelli managed a 22nd time, just 3.4 seconds behind number 21 Alex Caffi and well ahead of the disasterous AGS of Pascal Fabre. The first qualifying session in the afternoon saw some progress, but the gap to Caffi increased to 3.6 seconds.

Progress continued in the second free practice session, when Capelli squeezed a 1:40.0 out of the pseudo Formula One car, which put him just one tenth behind Caffi. Unfortunately, progress came to a grinding halt in the second and last qualifying session. While the rest of the field did their laps, Capelli was forced to sit out the larger part of the session.

The 87P was ready again for the warm-up on Sunday morning, where the picture was the same as the rest of the weekend. However, all was irrelevant in the end. During the warm-up, the engine broke down and as it was the only one the team had available, they had to withdraw from the race.

After the 1996 season, Ferrari decided to supply the Sauber team with old specification engines, which were badged Petronas - the Malaysian oil company that sponsored Sauber. During their seven years of partnership, Petronas and Sauber have collected a total of 88 points.

The first point came in the first race of Sauber-Petronas, when Nicola Larini scored a sixth place in the 1997 Australian Grand Prix. Johnny Herbert scored a good fourth place in Argentina that year. Two fifth places followed for Herbert, before he gave Petronas its first podium finish with a third place in Hungary. The season ended with a respectable total of 16 points.

The next few years were less successful, with ten points in 1998 - when Jean Alesi's third place at Spa was the highlight - and five and six points in 1999 and 2000 respectively. 2001 became Sauber's best year in Formula One to date. Both Nick Heidfeld (fourth) and Kimi Raikkonen (sixth) scored in the year's first race. Heidfeld managed a third place in Brazil as a best result of the year. Sauber-Petronas collected 21 points to finish fourth in the Championship.

With high expectations for the next season, things turned out to be somewhat disappointing in 2002. Apart from the Spanish Grand Prix, where the Petronas powered cars finished fourth and fifth, the season wasn't much to write home about and ended with eleven points.

Last season was more of the same, now with the experienced Heinz-Harald Frentzen partnering Nick Heidfeld. The highlight of the season was the second to last race at Indianapolis, where Frentzen finished third and Heidfeld fifth.

At the end of the 1994 season, the driver carousel was spinning around at top speed. One of the drivers who got a chance to prove himself was Franck Lagorce.

Like many other drivers, he started in karting before moving on to Formula Ford and F3. In 1992 he became the French Formula Three champion and for the 1993 season he moved to Formula 3000 to drive for the French DAMS team. At the end of 1993 he had won one F3000 race and finished 4th overall.

For the 1994 Formula 3000 season, Lagorce moved to the Apomatox team and finished as runner-up just two points behind Jean-Christophe Boullion. For the last two races of 1994 Ligier needed a replacement for Johnny Herbert, who moved to Benetton to help them to win the Constructors' Championship. Ligier gave Lagorce the drive.

In his first Formula One race, the Frenchman ran for only ten laps. On a very wet Suzuka circuit Lagorce collided with Michele Alboreto and his race was over. One week later, at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Lagorce had more luck. After qualifying 20th he finished the race two laps behind winner Nigel Mansell.

Besides driving Le Mans in 1995 and 1996 Lagorce was the test driver for Ligier and Forti Corse. However, he never drove another Formula One race after 1994. And, in his two races, Franck Lagorce completed a total of 89 laps.

1985 saw the last time a team won the Constructors' Championship with less than 100 points. McLaren was the team to do it, clinching the title with 90 points - eight more than Ferrari in second.

McLaren won the Championship largely due to Alain Prost's performance. Niki Lauda was the Frenchman's experienced partner, but the Austrian triple World Champion was on his way to retirement and unable to keep up with his teammate.

The season started well for McLaren with a win for Prost in Brazil. In San Marino, Prost took the chequered flag in the lead again but was disqualified when his car was found to weigh two kilograms less than the minimum weight. Monaco gave Prost his second victory. After third places in Canada and France, a third win followed in England. The German Grand Prix finally saw both McLarens finish, Prost in second and Lauda in fifth. In Austria, Lauda led the race before his engine failed after which Prost took the lead and brought home his fourth win.

The Dutch Grand Prix finally gave Lauda his share of success, when the Austrian led the team's only one-two of the season. Prost won again in Italy and finished third in Belgium, where he was the only McLaren in the race after Lauda suffered a practice crash. At the European Grand Prix John Watson took Lauda's place but came no further than seventh, after having qualified a lowly 21st.

In the final race of the season, in Australia, Lauda again retired from the lead. In his final race, he lost the car when his brakes failed at high speed, putting the McLaren into the wall.

In 1990, Ayrton Senna dominated the races to a large extent. The Brazilian led for 556 laps, more than the rest of the field combined. While the rest of the field was led by Alain Prost, Senna's archrival, the number three on the list of most laps led was a Belgian driver, Thierry Boutsen. Boutsen led for a career high 91 laps.

Despite leading for 91 laps, Boutsen only led in two races in 1990. The first one, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, was a mission impossible from the beginning. Even though a good start saw Boutsen move from fourth to second, the team already knew there was a gearbox problem, so it was only a matter of time before the gearbox would cause the inevitable retirement. However, when Ayrton Senna retired after three laps, Boutsen found himself in the lead of the race. This lasted until his retirement after 17 laps, when a wrong gear selection blew the engine of the Williams-Renault.

In Hungary Boutsen drove a fantastic race, leading from start to finish. However, it wasn't as easy as that. Gerhard Berger was constantly all over the Williams driver until the Austrian made a mistake after 48 laps. After that Riccardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini briefly occupied second, but without pressuring Boutsen too much. However, after an early drop back, Ayrton Senna was charging hard, eventually ending up right behind Boutsen. After 77 laps, the gap was a mere two tenths of a second.

The '92 season was without doubt Williams's best ever. The British team started the year with three consecutive one-twos after which the competition was already convinced they were fighting a lost battle. Nigel Mansell continued with two more wins, to set a new record of five straight wins from the season start. Only in the sixth race of the season it was McLaren driver Ayrton Senna who managed to beat Red Five in his beloved Monaco.

In the next race, in Canada, both Williamses retired and McLaren's Gerhard Berger scored his team's second win, ahead of young guns Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi. After that it was back to business as usual for Williams. Mansell won the next three races, clinching the title in Hungary with a second place behind Senna.

A long way behind the Williams success, there was also the debut of a driver who would later be successful for them. Damon Hill made his Grand Prix debut in 1992 with the fading Brabham team. In a car that was rarely able to qualify for the race, Hill managed to put it on the grid twice, in Britain and Hungary. His eleventh place in Hungary was the last result of the Brabham team, which stopped operations after the race.

Damon Hill moved to Williams for 1993 and eventually won the championship three years later. Of those who made their debut in 1992, Hill was the only driver to win a Grand Prix. Of the seven others, only Christian Fittipaldi and Ukyo Katayama managed more than ten Grand Prix starts.

Michael Schumacher became the 2003 World Champion by scoring 93 points.

The German got off to a less than optimal start by scoring just eight points in the first three races. However, the Ferrari driver rebounded with consecutive wins in San Marino, Spain and Austria, closing the gap to two points behind then-Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. At Monaco, Schumacher was beaten by both his rivals - Juan Pablo Montoya and Raikkonen. In Canada the reigning World Champion scored his fourth win of the season, finally taking the lead in the championship.

However, after Canada one of Schumacher's worst periods in years arrived. With just 18 points in the next five races, it was only thanks to less than optimal performance from his competitors that Schumacher kept the lead in the Championship. With three races to go, the German was just one point ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and two ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Just as critics started to think it was the dawn of the new generation and that Schumacher was crumbling under pressure, the five time World Champion struck back with a win in front of his team's home crowd at Monza. The weather conditions in the next race at Indianapolis saw Schumacher drop back in the beginning of the race, only to win it when the conditions turned in his favour. This put him in a comfortable position for Japan, where Raikkonen had to win and a single point was enough for Schumacher to win his sixth title. In one of his worst races, Schumacher scored exactly that single point, while teammate Rubens Barrichello kept Raikkonen from winning.

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