How many times did the World Champion win the first two rounds of that year? Which team and driver will gain most from rain? Who took a bite of his car's suspension? And what record does Michael Schumacher stand to break in the upcoming race? Marcel Schot brings the answers and more anecdotes on the Malaysian Grand Prix

The first Malaysian Grand Prix will always be remembered as the barge-board Grand Prix. In 1999, Michael Schumacher returned to the circuit two races from the end of the season, after having broken his leg at Silverstone.

After a very dominant display of the Ferrari team, in which Schumacher went well out of his way to help Eddie Irvine in his bid to win the World Championship, the Maranello team scored a one-two victory.

However, two hours after the race both Ferraris were disqualified for having illegal barge-boards. This made Mika Hakkinen World Champion, but the Finn's joy didn't last long. Ferrari successfully launched an appeal and six days later they had their win back and with it Irvine's continued chance to win the Drivers' World Championship, plus the chance to win their first Constructors Championship title since 1983.

When you look at the three Grands Prix that have been held in Malaysia, you can't help but think that Ferrari can't lose. All three races were won by them and in all three they took Pole Position. Ferrari scored 46 points out of the maximum 48 they could have scored.

Furthermore, no driver from any team other than Ferrari and McLaren has so far stood on the podium in Malaysia. And in fact, the last race without a Ferrari or McLaren driver on the podium was the September 1999 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

In case Michael Schumacher would be the winning Ferrari, it will not only be Ferrari's 4th win in a row at a circuit - something they already did at Silverstone and Albert Park - but it would also be Michael Schumacher's 36th win in a Ferrari. That's the most wins any driver/team combination achieved. Currently Schumacher and Ferrari share the record with Ayrton Senna and McLaren, at 35 each.

This, however, would require Schumacher to start with two wins in a row. In that respect things look grim for the competition indeed. Seven times in the last ten years, the winner of the first round also won the second. In all seven cases, the same driver also won the Championship. In the other three cases, the future World Champion scored one win in the first two rounds.

Strangely enough, before the last ten years it was a rarity that one driver won the two opening rounds of a season. Before Nigel Mansell won the first five rounds of the 1992 season, the following drivers won the first two:

1991 Ayrton Senna
1979 Jacques Laffite
1976 Niki Lauda
1973 Emerson Fittipaldi
1969 Jackie Stewart
1957 Juan Manuel Fangio

Senna, Stewart and Fangio went on to win the Championship, while Laffite, Lauda and Fittipaldi didn't. Laffite's case specifically is almost surreal.

After winning the first two races, the Frenchman had a lead of eight points. After that he scored one second and three third places, while the Williams and Ferrari machines got in gear. In the end, Laffite had to settle for fourth.

Looking at where the future World Champion was after two races, we notice that since 1989, only twice was he not the leader in the Championship. In 1993, Alain Prost was second behind Ayrton Senna, and in 1999 Mika Hakkinen trailed Eddie Irvine by two points.

So far, everything looks in favour of those who start the season on a high note. However, there are three points to prove that not all is lost for those who are with empty hands early in the season.

In 1952 Alberto Ascari didn't score a single point in the first two races. The same happened to Jack Brabham in 1960 and Jochen Rindt in 1970. In 1979, Jody Scheckter scored just a single point in the first two races before winning the title for Ferrari.

However, enough about wins. In a field of 22 cars, there's only one winner per race and thus 21 losers. A very special loser was Johnny Herbert in the 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix. Sepang hosted the final round of the season that year and Herbert was there for his final race.

The Briton and his team celebrated the event on Friday. A special pie was made, which looked like Herbert's car. Smiling, Herbert cut the first piece at the tasty suspension. This must have sealed his fate for the race. With just a few laps to go, the Jaguar's suspension snapped and its unfortunate driver was sent into a wild spin, crashing into the barrier at high speed.

Initially things looked OK, as Herbert got up from the cockpit. However, his legs didn't carry him and he had to be carried from the car by marshalls. Being equiped with a good sense of humour, Herbert later said: "I guess it was inevitable that because I began my career being carried to the car, I would end it being carried out of it."

Last year, the Malaysian Grand Prix moved from the end of the season to the beginning, just after the Australian Grand Prix. A tropical storm in the opening laps caused massive chaos everywhere, with cars sliding off everywhere and the unlikely sight of an Arrows in the top three.

With April being the rainiest month of the year in Malaysia, it's not really surprising to see it rain in March. What's probably worse for the drivers, is that a Malaysian shower has the tendency to be short and intense, like it was last season. With high temperatures, the track dries fast, which makes it difficult to adjust the strategies to an event like this.

For this year, conditions could be just as tricky. For the coming week there's nothing but thunderstorms forecasted with a cloudy race weekend. Past results of drivers performing in the wet, show that Ferrari are the ones looking for rain:

Driver                 Points Races Average
Michael Schumacher     199    35    5.686  
Rubens Barrichello      61    31    1.968  
Heinz-Harald Frentzen   53    27    1.963  
David Coulthard         48    25    1.920  
Ralf Schumacher         20    15    1.333  
Olivier Panis           25    20    1.250  
Giancarlo Fisichella    19    17    1.118  
Eddie Irvine            28    28    1.000  
Jenson Button            5     7    0.714  
Jacques Villeneuve      12    18    0.667  
Jarno Trulli            10    15    0.667  
Nick Heidfeld            4     7    0.571  
Mika Salo                9    23    0.391  
Pedro de la Rosa         2     7    0.286  
Kimi Raikkonen           0     2    0.000  
Enrique Bernoldi         0     2    0.000  
Juan Pablo Montoya       0     2    0.000  

Team                   Points Races Average
Ferrari                162    36    4.500
Benetton                94    31    3.032
McLaren                 33    18    1.833
Williams                64    38    1.684
Jordan                  66    52    1.269
Prost                   29    29    1.000 (inc. Ligier)
Jaguar                  14    15    0.933 (inc. Stewart)
Sauber                  18    21    0.857
BAR                     13    25    0.520 (inc. Tyrrell)
Arrows                   2    11    0.182
Minardi                  0     4    0.000
Lotus                    0     1    0.000

Juan Pablo Montoya showed impressive racing in Brazil last year, before being rear-ended by Verstappen, while Kimi Raikkonen remains somewhat of a dark horse. The young Finn initially drove very well in Brazil last year, but ended the race with two spins. Both had unlucky starts in Malaysia and were out of reach for points from the start.

Past Performance by Current Drivers

	1999		2000		2001		Average Qualifying Position
	Qual	Race	Qual	Race	Qual	Race
M.Schumacher	1	2	1	1	1	1	1.000
Barrichello	6	5	4	3	2	2	4.000
Coulthard	3	M	3	2	8	3	4.667
Raikkonen	-	-	-	-	14	M	14.000
R.Schumacher	8	R	8	M	3	5	6.333
Montoya	-	-	-	-	6	R	6.000
Heidfeld	-	-	19	R	11	R	15.000
Massa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fisichella	11	11	13	9	16	M	13.333
Sato	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Villeneuve	10	M	6	5	7	R	7.667
Panis	12	M	-	-	10	M	11.000
Trulli	18	DNS	9	12	5	8	10.667
Button	-	-	16	M	17	11	16.500
Frentzen	14	6	10	M	9	4	11.000
Bernoldi	-	-	-	-	22	R	22.000
Irvine	2	1	7	6	12	M	7.000
de la Rosa	20	M	14	R	-	-	17.000
Yoong	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Webber	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Salo	-	-	17	8	-	-	17.000
McNish	-	-	-	-	-	-	-