With over a month gone since the end of the 2003 season and over 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!

Even though Jean Pierre Beltoise scored only one victory and led only four races, his career total in the lead was 101 laps. The Frenchman first led in the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix. After having qualified fifth, Beltoise made a very good start, which put him in second right away. When he made his way past Pedro Rodriguez, he led for four laps, but then dropped all the way down to tenth when his car started malfunctioning.

Beltoise had to wait until his home Grand Prix in 1970 for a second taste of leading the race and then again he suffered bad luck. Eleven laps after wrestling the lead from Jackie Ickx, Beltoise's Matra suffered a slow puncture, dropping him back to ninth.

The next time around, luck stayed with Beltoise. He grabbed the lead right after the start of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix and never let go, to claim his first and only victory.

His final race lead came in the crazy 1973 Canadian Grand Prix - the first event where a safety car was deployed. In extremely wet circumstances, Beltoise somehow made his way from 23rd after one lap to the lead just before half distance. However, after a mere six laps Jackie Oliver and later Peter Revson passed him and he never led a Grand Prix for the rest of his career.

During the 1995 season Michael Schumacher and Benetton were dominant right from the start. By racking up win after win, the German eventually won his second World Championship with a total of 102 points, clearly ahead of Damon Hill, who scored 69.

Schumacher started the season with an unexpected victory in Brazil. After a third in Argentina and a retirement at Imola, the Benetton driver struck back with a start to finish win in Spain and another win at Monaco in the next race. More wins followed in France and Germany, but the masterpiece of the season was Schumacher's win from 16th in changing conditions at Spa-Francorchamps.

A partially wet qualifying session surprised the World Champion, causing him to qualify a career low 16th position. However, the superiority of both driver and car made sure that Schumacher was up to fifth after only six laps. There he got stuck behind Jordan driver Eddie Irvine for a few laps, but when it started to rain, the German made the right choice by staying out on slicks. In difficult circumstances, Schumacher kept the car on the asphalt and the gamble paid off.

After a retirement at Monza, as a result of coliding with Damon Hill, Schumacher put a strong series together of a second place at Estoril and wins at the Nurburgring, Aida and Suzuka.

Patrick Tambay started his ten years in Formula One in 1977. During the period, the Frenchman scored 103 points for a wide range of teams. Whether it was for Ensign, McLaren, Theodore, Ferrari, Renault or Lola, Tambay scored. Only for Ligier - where he retired from all his eight races, and Surtees - for which he only drove his debut race, the Frenchman remained point-less.

Tambay's biggest successes came with Ferrari, where he replaced Gilles Villeneuve halfway through the 1982 season. He won the 1982 German and 1983 San Marino Grand Prix for the Scuderia, finishing on the podium eight times in one and a half seasons.

Even though Tambay drove for ten years, 40 of his 103 points came in 1983 alone. He finished on the podium five times and finished in the points nine times. During the other five races that season, Tambay retired.

In fact, retirements followed the Frenchman throughout his career. His spells with Ligier, Renault and Lola were plagued by many retirements, which clearly made Tambay's career total less than what it could have been.

Jochen Mass's 104 Grands Prix began with twelve races in the notoriously unreliable Surtees, but Mass moved to McLaren before the end of the 1974 season. The Brazilian Grand Prix of 1975 brought Mass his first success. Having started from tenth on the grid, the German slowly made his way up and eventually finished third.

Two races later, in Spain, Mass scored his first and only Formula One victory in a race that was stopped early after a heavy crash involving Rolf Stommelen, Carlos Pace and Graham Hill, in which five spectators were killed. The four podiums and one win of that season was the best Mass did, but as half points were awarded for the shortened Spanish Grand Prix, the McLaren driver finished only eighth in the Championship.

During the next two seasons, Mass scored four more podiums, being largely overshadowed by teammate James Hunt. After 1977, Mass moved to ATS, where he had to settle for a place in the lower half of the grid. Breaking his leg during testing, meant he was out for most of the second half of the season.

For 1979, he moved to Arrows where he managed three sixth places but ended the season not qualifying for the final two races. A year later, he scored a fourth place in Monaco by staying out of trouble while many cars crashed. After a year away, Mass return unsuccesfully to Formula One with March in 1982.

The 105th World Championship Grand Prix was the 1962 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. It was the race that brought Jim Clark his first victory and showed the competition for the first time exactly how good Clark was at Spa.

Having qualified only 12th, the Lotus driver made his way to fourth in the first lap. While Clark's teammate Trevor Taylor and Ferrari driver Willy Mairesse battled for the lead, Clark had his own battle with Graham Hill and Bruce McLaren behind them. After eight laps, the Scotsman made his way up in second behind Taylor and a lap later he took over the lead from his teammate.

From then on Clark dominated the race. Taylor remained second for a long time, but eventually had an accident together with Mairesse, having both drivers' race end after 25 laps. This left Graham Hill in the BRM in second, a long way behind Clark and a long way ahead of Phil Hill. Seven laps later the flag dropped for Clark, 44 seconds clear of Graham Hill to take his maiden victory. It was the first of four consecutive victories in Belgium for Clark.

With no less than 106 podium finishes, Alain Prost ranks second only to Michael Schumacher. Except for his debut season 1980, the Frenchman scored podium finishes in all of his years in Formula One. The first one came at the 1981 Argentinean Grand Prix, where Prost scored a third place with his Renault. Later in the season Prost scored his first victory in France. Two more wins and a second place followed that year, after which 1982 saw two wins and two second places for the Frenchman in a not very reliable car.

His final year with Renault, in 1983, saw him collect four wins, two second places and one third - to finish second in the Championship, only two points behind Nelson Piquet. For the next season Prost joined McLaren. With no less than seven wins and two more podium finishes, he finished second only half a point behind teammate Niki Lauda. The next two years followed almost equal paths. The number of wins was lower - respectively five and six - but the sheer number of podium finishes, eleven in both years, brought the Frenchman the title.

Compared to this, 1987's three wins and seven podium finishes were a step down. In 1988, Alain Prost finished on the podium in an amazing 14 out of 16 races, but that's exactly why he lost the Championship. With the best eleven results counting, three second places for Prost were not counted, handing the title to Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian won by three points after having only four deducted against Prost's 18.

Prost's final year at McLaren gave him his third World Championship and again it was one with a lot of podium finishes and relatively few wins. Prost scored eleven podiums of which four were wins. For 1990 Prost signed with Ferrari, scoring another nine podiums and five wins on his way to his fourth second place in the World Championship.

After that, 1991 was a bitter disappointment with no wins and only five podium finishes. Prost took a break for the next year and returned in 1993 for his final season and fourth Championship. In the very dominant Williams, le Professeur won seven races out of a totle twelve on the podium to become the first driver in history with over 100 podium finishes.

In 67 races, Gilles Villeneuve scored 107 points. The first came at the 1978 Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished fourth after having driven in second for the first half of the race. Later that season, in Austria, Gilles scored his first podium finish, finishing third behind Ronnie Peterson and Patrick Depailler. However, the highlight of the season was no doubt the Canadian Grand Prix. In front of a Gilles-crazy home crowd, the Ferrari driver mastered the wet conditions to claim his first victory.

In 1979, the Canadian collected three wins and four second places for a runner up place in the Championship, only beaten by teammate Jody Scheckter. 1980 was a dramatic season for the whole team and saw Villeneuve scoring only six points throughout the season. The next season showed an upward trend again and also delivered Gilles two more wins, in Monaco and Jarama.

His win in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama is no doubt his masterpiece. After having qualified in seventh, Gilles's trademark super starts put him in the top three right away. Once he grabbed the lead in lap 14, he never let go. During the remaining 66 laps Villeneuve had a trail of cars right under his rearwing at all times. The gap was never more than a second, yet Villeneuve managed to make his Ferrari as wide as the track without making a single mistake.

Villeneuve's final points came by finishing second in the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, one race before he was killed in Zolder, Belgium.

Previous 2004 Countdown Facts & Stats...