Champions at 50

Lewis Hamilton will start his 50th race in Japan. The table below shows the achievements of some of F1's most successful drivers in their first 50 grands prix.

* 49 starts
** Ascari was killed just 32 races into his world championship F1 career

After last year's Belgian GP, Hamilton matched Juan Manuel Fangio in reaching his 20th podium in just 30 races. He's now fallen 10 behind Fangio, who had 35 podiums in his first 50 races.

Renault to reach Benetton

Renault will tie Benetton at 260 race starts at the Japanese GP. The French manufacturer will join the former incarnation of its team in 10th place on the all-time list. Ferrari leads the way with 790.

Barrichello for 600

Rubens Barrichello scored his 599th career point in Singapore and can become only the fourth driver to pass the 600 mark. The other three are Michael Schumacher (1369), Alain Prost (798.5) and Ayrton Senna (614).

Personal scoreboard

• Lewis Hamilton started from pole position in the 2007 and 2008 Japanese GPs. He won the former but a first corner incident, a penalty and contact with Felipe Massa restricted him to 12th last year. This weekend will be the first time he has raced at Suzuka.
• Heikki Kovalainen scored his maiden F1 podium at Fuji in 2007, but retired with engine failure last year.
• Giancarlo Fisichella has contested every Japanese GP since 1997 but didn't score a point until 2004. He finished on the podium in 2005 and 2006, but in 2008 he qualified last and retired with gearbox failure.
• Kimi Raikkonen has finished on the podium five times in eight Japanese GPs, including victory in 2005 from 17th on the grid.
• Nick Heidfeld has scored just one point in nine races in Japan.
• Fernando Alonso has won two of the last three Japanese GPs, in 2006 and 2008. He spun out of the 2007 race while fighting Lewis Hamilton for the world championship.
• Jarno Trulli has only scored points on three of his 11 visits to Japan. His best result was a fifth place last season.
• Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver ever to lead an F1 race in the Japanese GP at Fuji. He retired from that race after crashing into Mark Webber behind the safety car.
• Nico Rosberg is still looking for his first points in Japan after three attempts. His best result was a 10th place on his only visit so far to Suzuka, in 2006.
• Rubens Barrichello won the 2003 Japanese GP but hasn't scored a point in the race since.

The Suzuka circuit © LAT

Team performances in Japan

• Ferrari won the race five times in a row from 2000 to 2004, but hasn't won it since.
• Renault has won the Japanese GP twice in the last four years (both Alonso) and finished second in the other two seasons (Fisichella and Kovalainen).
• Williams hasn't scored a point in Japan since 2005 when Mark Webber finished fourth.

The last time

• 20 years ago: Alessandro Nannini won his only grand prix at Suzuka after Ayrton Senna was disqualified after tangling with Alain Prost at the final chicane. Nannini is the only driver ever to have taken his maiden win at Suzuka.
• Two years ago: Nick Heidfeld had his most recent retirement due to a mechanical failure
• One year ago: Robert Kubica scored his last podium, Fernando Alonso took his last win, and BMW Sauber and Toro Rosso led a race.