With just two 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!

Between 1997 and 2000 Alexander Wurz started in 52 Grands Prix. He made his debut at the Canadian Grand Prix of 1997 replacing fellow Austrian Gerhard Berger at Benetton, who had to sit out three races after a sinus operation. In his third race he set the best result of his career by finishing third at the British Grand Prix. The three races in 1997 earned Wurz a Benetton race seat for the 1998 season alongside Giancarlo Fisichella.

In 1998 Wurz showed great promise by finishing in the points six times during the first ten races of the season and even setting the fastest race lap during the Argentine Grand Prix. After the initial success a period began where he did not score any points and where he was overshadowed by Giancarlo Fisichella. It would take until the Monaco Grand Prix in 1999 before Wurz would score a point again and only once more would he score points in 1999.

For the 2000 season Wurz remained at Benetton, though without much luck. Only during the Italian Grand Prix, where seven drivers failed to complete the first lap, did Alexander Wurz score two points. In 2001 he was signed by McLaren as their new test driver. Despite a lot rumors about Wurz replacing Antonio Pizzonia at Jaguar during 2003 he is still at McLaren as test and reserve driver.

The Cooper T53 had quite a long period of service, which wasn't uncommon in the sixties. While the car was most successful in 1960, in the hands of Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, it graced the field into 1963.

In its first year the T53 was clearly the car to beat. After a second place in its debut race in Monaco, Jack Brabham drove the T53 to victory in five next races. In two of those races Bruce McLaren came second, while the New Zealander was in the points in the other three. This gave Cooper a clear victory in the Constructors' Championship as well as a one-two finish in the Drivers' Championship.

From 1961 the T53 wasn't the works Cooper car anymore and several privateer teams opted for last year's best car. However, it quickly became clear that a year old car wasn't good enough even if it was a great one. Point finishes were few and far between with a fourth place in Italy for Jackie Lewis as a T53 highlight of the season. Roy Salvadori almost improved that result in the final race at Watkins Glen, where he drove in second until retiring with just four laps to go.

In 1962 it were Jackie Lewis and a few local drivers in America and South Africa who still couldn't part with the T53's glorious past, but unfortunately for them the car was way past its prime by now. The man to give the T53 its final outing in a World Championship race was Ernesto Brambilla. Driving for the Scuderia Centro Sud, the Italian did not qualify, being a massive 13 seconds off pole and three and a half seconds behind Giancarlo Baghetti, who qualified last on the grid.

In 1975 Brabham finished second in the championship with 54 points, 18.5 points behind Ferrari and one ahead of McLaren. The start of the season was very promising as Gordon Murray had managed to improve the BT44's weaknesses while maintaining its strong points. In the first race in Argentina, local hero Carlos Reutemann finished third. Carlos Pace then won his home Grand Prix in Brazil, giving both drivers strong outings on home soil.

In South Africa the two Brabham drivers again were strong, lining up alongside each other on the front row and driving to second and fourth in the race. In the following races they continued to gradually scrape together the points, but the new Ferrari 312T did its job masterfully and with three consecutive victories in Monaco, Belgium and Sweden established its number one position. This meant that Brabham and McLaren were left to battle for second in the championship.

In a crazy British Grand Prix, Fittipaldi won for McLaren, simply because he was one of the very few cars that were actually driving when the race was finally red flagged because of the rain. Carlos Pace was classified second, limiting the damage for Brabham. However, the team had switched from developing the BT44B to working on the 1976 car that would be powered by Alfa Romeo. In retrospect it was in fact Reutemann's surprise win at the Nurburgring that got Brabham the second place in the championship. In the final three races of the season there was only a fourth place for Reutemann in Italy to give the team any more points.

The '55 season was that of Mercedes' complete domination and Juan Manuel Fangio's third World Championship. The year started in gruesome conditions in Argentina. In one of the hottest races in history, only locals Fangio and Roberto Mieres were able to complete the entire race without having to be relieved by teammates. In Monaco the Italian teams struck back, with Maurice Trintignant winning for Ferrari and Eugenio Castellotti coming second for Lancia.

However, when Formula One returned to Europe after the Indianapolis 500, it was all Mercedes. In Belgium Fangio and Stirling Moss were over a minute and a half ahead of the rest, while Maserati driver Luigi Musso was the only one to even finish on the same lap as the Mercedes couple in Holland. With several races canceled after a horrific accident in the Le Mans 24 hours, it took nearly a month until the next race, the British Grand Prix at Aintree. In the face of Britain the Mercedes dominance reached its pinnacle with a one-two-three finish. Moss scored his first victory, just ahead of Fangio who secured his third championship. In the final race of the season, in Ferrari's home of Italy, Mercedes still went for it despite already having won everything. In the lion's den, Fangio and Taruffi collected another one-two finish for the German make, with the first Ferrari of Castellotti a respectable 45 seconds behind.

In a career that was tragically cut short, Wolfgang von Trips scored 56 points. This first points came even before the German was a regular driver at Ferrari. In 1957, he only raced at Argentina, Monaco and Italy, in the last of which he scored a surprising third place. His work was rewarded with a regular drive for the Maranello team in the next season, where three more points finishes added nine more points to his total. In 1959 von Trips was without a drive for most of the season, but in 1960 he returned to Ferrari and continued to show his talent by finishing in the points in five of the nine races.

In the next season, the German was destined to become World Champion. After having started the season with a fourth place in Monaco, he won the Dutch Grand Prix and came second in Belgium. A retirement in France temporarily halted meant his battle with teammate Phil Hill stayed close with the American one point ahead. However, another win in Britain and a second place in Germany gave von Trips a four point lead with two races to go.

In Monza he qualified on pole as Ferrari claimed the first four positions on the grid. That's where Wolfgang von Trips dream of a World Championship ended. After a bad start, the Ferrari driver dropped back and at the end of the first lap came together with the Lotus of Jim Clark. von Trips' car was launched over the outside of the Parabolica corner, killing 15 spectators and its pilot.

In five years in Formula One, the Toleman team started just 57 times. The team's first year was especially disastrous as qualifying and sometimes even pre-qualifying proved to high a hurdle in all but two attempts. The first time a Toleman made it to the grid on Sunday was at the Italian Grand Prix, where Brian Henton qualified 23th. While the car was certainly slow, Henton managed to bring it to the finish where others failed and scored a respectable tenth place.

In 1982 the team gradually improved with as highlight the British Grand Prix, where Derek Warwick managed to climb up to second place until his halfshaft broke halfway through the race. However, no points were scored for the second season.

The first points came halfway through the next season, when Derek Warwick drove to fourth from seventh on the grid in the Dutch Grand Prix. With three more points finishes to end the season, the talent of Warwick was apparent and the Briton moved to Renault.

As his replacement, Toleman hired British Formula Three champion Ayrton Senna. The young Brazilian immediately showed his talent, finishing sixth in South Africa and Belgium, before scoring second in the rain soaked Monaco. Two more podium finishes made sure Senna too left for better places, leaving Toleman empty handed again.

1985 was the team's final year. Initially starting as a one driver outfit with Teo Fabi, Piercarlo Ghinzani joined later in the season. The car was completely unreliable and the only source of light through the season was Fabi's lucky pole position in Germany.

In the 2003 season Ralf Schumacher scored 58 points ranking him fifth in the World Championship.

The 2003 season for Ralf Schumacher can roughly be cut in three periods. The first period is from the start of the season until the Monaco Grand Prix. In that period Ralf struggled with the new qualifying rules and with the level of competitiveness in 2003 it was hard to make up for a bad grid position. In those races he scored 25 points. One at the Australian Grand Prix, five at the Malaysian Grand Prix after starting from 17th on the grid, two points at the rain soaked Brazilian Grand Prix, five points at the San Marino Grand Prix after his mother had died the day before, four at the Spanish Grand Prix, three in Austria and five points in Monaco.

The second period of the season for Ralf started at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished second behind his brother Michael, he also set the pole position showing he had come to grips with the new qualifying rules. At Nurburgring, the next race, Ralf scored his first win of the season, also winning the next race in France. Suddenly he was only 11 points behind Championship leader Michael Schumacher and it started to look like Ralf could challenge for the title in 2003.

But it all went wrong for Ralf in the third part of his season, starting at the British Grand Prix. Until the end of the season Ralf would only finish in the points one more time, at the Hungarian Grand Prix. At the German Grand Prix he was involved in a start crash together with Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Raikkonen and didn't make it past turn one. During testing for the Italian Grand Prix Ralf crashed and fliped his Williams and although he tried to qualify for the race he had to be replaced by Marc Gene.

In the difficult conditions of the United States Grand Prix Ralf stayed out on dry weather tyres for too long and spun out. In the final race of the season in Japan Ralf had to start from the back of the grid because he failed to set a time in the Saturday qualifying session after it started to rain. He made his way from the back of the grid to a point scoring position until he had to avoid Michael Schumacher whilte trying to pass him, damaging his front wing in the process.

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