Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Malaysia
Michele Merlino crunches the numbers ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix
The winner of the first race of the season has good chances for the world championship, because 14 times in the last 18 seasons the first winner went on to take the title.
But the second race is also important: since 1990, the world champion has won the first race of his successful world title campaign 17 times out of 18 by the second race of the season. The only exception was 2003, when Michael Schumacher won his first race in San Marino, the fourth GP in calendar.
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