More stats! Hurrah!

The most poles by any driver are the 65 of Ayrton Senna, which equates to 40 per cent of the races the Brazilian started.

But the best hit rate of pole positions is Juan Manuel Fangio's 57 per cent, which is 29 out of the 51 Grands Prix he contested.

The man starting from the front row the most times is Senna. The triple world champion had an unimpeded view of the lights 87 times in his Formula 1 career, or in 54 per cent of the races he started.

And again, the best percentage of starts from the front row is Fangio with a staggering 94 per cent, or 48 out of 51.

The most fastest laps is 41, shared between Alain Prost (21 per cent of his starts) and Michael Schumacher (28 per cent of his starts).

But as one of those bizarre F1 quirks, the best percentage of fastest laps is Masahiro Hasemi's perfect 100 per cent, coming from one out of one start (the 1976 Japanese GP).

The man with the most points in the history of the F1 World Championship is Prost with 798.5.

The most wins is Prost. The French quadruple world champ was victorious 51 times, equating to 26 per cent of his races.

But once again, the best percentage of wins to starts is Fangio on an astonishing 47 percent, or 24 out of just 51 starts.

The most starts for any GP driver are the 256 of Italy's Riccardo Patrese.

The greatest distance covered during a GP career also belongs to Patrese, with 30,433 miles on the clock.

But the greatest distance actually led belongs to Senna with 8473 miles.

And for most laps led? Senna again, with a dizzying 2981.

The youngest driver to start a GP was New Zealand's Mike Thackwell, who was just 19 years and 182 days when he took the green lights in Canada in 1980.

The youngest driver to attempt to qualify was also Thackwell, aged 19 years and 154 days at the Dutch GP of 1980.

The oldest driver to start a GP was Louis Chiron, who'd reached the ripe old age of 55 years and 292 days for the 1955 Monaco race.

One year later, Chiron then became the oldest driver to attempt to qualify for a GP when he DNQ'ed, aged 56 years and 283 days for the 1956 Monaco race.

The youngest average age of a GP field was 27 years and 156 days for the 1997 French GP.

The oldest average age of a GP field was 42 years and 315 days for the 1951 Belgiam GP.

The most drivers from a single nation to start a GP were the 17 Britons in the 1952 British GP.

As a comparison, the most in recent memory were the 12 Italians at the 1990 Hungarian and British GPs, the full list being (takes breath) Michele Alboreto, Paolo Barilla, Alex Caffi, Ivan Capelli, Andrea de Cesaris, Nicola Larini, Pierluigi Martini, Stefano Modena, Alessandro Nannini, Riccardo Patrese, Emanuele Pirro and Gabriele Tarquini actually starting both races. Oh, and Bruno Giacomelli and Claudio Langes also failed to pre-qualify!