With three weeks 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!

After a very bad Canadian Grand Prix in 1968, Jackie Stewart started a very impressive sequence of 17 races in which he led at least one lap. The first race of the series immediately set the tone. Starting from second, Stewart grabbed the lead directly and never looked back. The last race of 1968 was another thing. In Mexico Jackie quickly made his way to the lead, but was no match for Graham Hill.

In the first eight races of the next season, Stewart won six times, retired from the lead in Monaco and came second at the Nurburgring after having led the first half of the race. While leading the race in Canada, the Scot lost control and crashed out. In the American Grand Prix the Tyrrell driver led only briefly, before eventually retiring. Leading the Mexican Grand Prix briefly from the start meant that Stewart had led in all of the season's races.

In 1970 the series continued. Stewart led from pole in South Africa, while he came from third to lead every lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. From that moment lady luck started to turn her back on Stewart. In Monaco he led from the start until engine problems made a pitstop necessary and in Belgium the Scot just led for two laps in the beginning of the race before dropping back and retiring. At the Dutch Grand Prix the series ended. After having dropped back to fourth at the start, Stewart slowly made his way back to second, but Jochen Rindt was too far ahead for Stewart to grab the lead.

In the two years that Toyota has been in Formula One so far they have scored 18 points. In their first ever race, the 2002 Australian Grand Prix, Mika Salo scored a point by finishing in sixth position. Also in the third race of Toyota Salo finished in sixth position for another point. At the end of the debut season Toyota had scored two points. Last year Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta scored the remaining 16 points.

First to score for Toyota in 2003 was da Matta in the Spanish Grand Prix. With the new point system in effect he scored three points with a sixth place. In the remainder of 2003 da Matta scored points in three more races. Olivier Panis scored his first points of the year in the Canadian Grand Prix where he finished eighth. Panis was also responsible for Toyota's best finish so far. In the German Grand Prix he finished in fifth position. At the end of the year Toyota had scored sixteen points bringing the total to 18 points so far.

Between the 2001 US Grand Prix and the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher set a record that's unlikely to be broken any time soon. The German stood on the podium for 19 consecutive races, more than twice as much as the previous record he shared with Jim Clark, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet.

After having finished the 2001 Italian Grand Prix in fourth, Schumacher ended the season with a second place at Indianapolis and a win in Suzuka to claim his fourth World Championship.

What happened in the next season was incredible. Schumacher put his Ferrari on the podium in each of the seventeen races of the season, displaying a level of dominance that had only been achieved by Jim Clark in 1963 and Nigel Mansell in 1992.

When the F2002 made its debut at the third race in Brazil, it's power became immediately clear. Schumacher won the first four races in the new car before coming second in Monaco. Three more wins and another second place meant that Schumacher clinched the World Championship in France, after just eleven rounds. After that, the German took his foot slightly off the pedal, helping teammate Rubens Barrichello win three races in which the World Champion came second.

In the first race of 2003, it looked as if Schumacher would continue his impressive sequence after having qualified well ahead of the pack. However, in the race things went wrong when Schumacher damaged the car while driving over a kerb. A fourth place just behind Kimi Raikkonen meant that the string of 19 consecutive podium finished had come to an end.

In 1994 and 1995 the Simtek team competed in a total of 20 Races. The team was led by Nick Wirth, who set up a small research company named Simtek Research in the early nineties. With his company he did some work for the FIA and the Ligier team. In 1993 he decided to create his own Formula One team with the help of Jack Brabham.

Wirth signed a sponsorship deal with MTV for the 1994 season and hired David Brabham and Roland Ratzenberger to drive for the team. 1994 would be a season with many lows and not too many highs for Simtek. In the San Marino Grand Prix Ratzenberger died after a crash in Saturday qualifying and was replaced the following race by Andrea Montermini. In his debut race, however, Montermini crashed and fractured a bone in the heel of his left foot. For the remainder of the season Jean-Marc Gounon, Domenico Schiattarella and Taki Inoue would drive the second car. Simtek's best result in 1994 was a ninth place by David Brabham in the French Grand Prix.

For 1995 the team signed Jos Verstappen, Domenico Schiattarella for the first half of the season and Hideki Noda for the second half. Things looked better in 1995 and in the Argentine Grand Prix Verstappen even managed to drive in the points for a few laps, but money was running out. After the Monaco Grand Prix the Simtek team folded. In total seven drivers competed for Simtek in twenty races.

On 25 January 1999 the Williams FW21 was presented in Barcelona. The car was presented as a logical follow up to the FW20, building on its strengths and improving its weaknesses. With a completely new driver line-up of Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi, Frank Williams was cautiously positive at the launch, saying "We are very optimistic about its chances but we will have to wait and see throughout this week and the rest of the season."

As the season got underway, the caution appeared justified. The cars constantly qualified badly, leaving lots of ground to be made up in the actual race. While Schumacher mostly managed to qualify around tenth on the grid, Zanardi was usually about five places behind the German. However, the race results of the first two races were hopeful. Ralf Schumacher finished third in Australia and fourth in Brazil.

While Schumacher collected several third and fourth places, the season started disastrous for Zanardi. The Italian finished two of the first eleven races. In Belgium things finally went better for Zanardi. He qualified eight and in the race appeared to head for his first point. Unfortunately, the fueling went wrong and a second pitstop was necessary, dropping Zanardi back from sixth to eight.

At the next race in Monza both Williams drivers scored their best result of the season. While Zanardi again missed out on the points, finishing seventh less than a second behind Eddie Irvine, Ralf Schumacher scored an excellent second place, just three seconds behind winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen. A fifth place for Schumacher in Suzuka gave the FW21 a total of 35 points.

John Watson was the winner of the 1983 USA-West Grand Prix at Long Beach. Starting from 22nd on the grid, this is win from the worst grid position in history.

The first half of the 1983 season was a matter of waiting until the TAG Porsche turbo engine was ready. Practice at Long Beach was a disaster. Both McLarens ended up some four seconds behind polesitter Patrick Tambay. With John Watson in 22nd and Niki Lauda in 23rd, there really wasn't a shade of hope for points.

At the start, Watson gained two places. After six laps Nigel Mansell dropped back and a lap later Watson made his way past Mauro Baldi. Shortly thereafter the Ulsterman overtook Adrea de Cesaris, while Derek Warwick became the first driver to crash out, putting Watson in 17th after twelve laps.

In the next few laps, John Watson saw four drivers disappear in his rearview mirror and something hopeful started to develop. Then after 25 laps total mayhem broke loose ahead of Watson. Keke Rosberg collided with the Ferrari of Patrick Tambay. Tambay retired on the spot and Rosberg several hundred meters further, when Jean-Pierre Jarier ran into the back of him. Less than a lap later the Frenchman retired as well. This all meant that Watson climbed into fourth just before the halfway point!

In the remainder of the race, the McLaren driver kept his head cool and took profit of further mistakes ahead of him to take the lead after 45 laps and not making a mistake himself to score one of the most surprising victories in Formula One history, with teammate Niki Lauda coming second.

In 1995 the small Italian Forti team made its Formula One debut. Between its debut in the Brazilian Grand Prix of 1995 and its final race in the 1996 British Grand Prix the team competed in 23 races. For the 1995 season the team signed Brazilian drivers Pedro Diniz and Roberto Moreno. Diniz had driven for them in F3000 and brought along much needed money from Parmalat.

The car was nothing short of a disaster and had the 107% rule been introduced in 1995 instead of 1996, the Forti team would have made it to the grid only once. However without the 107% rule and only 26 cars in Formula One, the drivers had no problem qualifying for the races. A seventh position in the Australian Grand Prix by Pedro Diniz was Forti's best result.

For 1996 the team signed two Italian drivers: Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini. With the 107% rule in place both drivers failed to qualify on more than one occasion. After another double non qualification in the British Grand Prix the team retired from F1 after just 23 races.

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