The ultra-elite F1 company Kimi Antonelli joined with Miami GP win

Then, in the race, in conditions so treacherous that 13 of the 26 starters spun off, he won by over a minute, lapping everyone except second-placed Michele Alboreto. Prost lost control on the pit straight and smashed into the barriers.

Two weeks later at Imola, he took pole again, this time by just 0.027 seconds from Keke Rosberg’s Williams, with Prost back in sixth on the grid. He led the race before running out of fuel with four laps remaining.

Then Monaco, where he beat Nigel Mansell’s Williams by 86 thousandths of a second in what the circuit’s own history records as one of the most impressive single qualifying laps of the era.

He retired from the race with an engine problem, but the qualifying sequence – Portugal, San Marino, Monaco, in only his second season in the sport – had already told the story.

He would go on to take 65 pole positions in total.

Schumacher: Monaco, Spain and Canada, 1994

Michael Schumacher had been in Formula 1 since 1991 and had already won five races before he took his first pole position. It arrived at Monaco in 1994 – his 42nd grand prix start – and when it came, it was a statement of total authority.

He set his quick time using only four laps, then went back out and wiped nearly six tenths off it, finishing almost a second clear of Häkkinen’s McLaren in second.

Motor Sport described his qualifying lap as exhibiting “utterly confident” mastery of the circuit.

The context made it all the more remarkable: this was the first race following the deaths of Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola two weeks earlier. The front row of the grid was left empty as a mark of respect, painted with the Brazilian and Austrian flags. Schumacher won from pole start to finish.

The following week in Barcelona, he put the Benetton on pole again, this time by 0.651 seconds.

Then Canada, where a tenth of a second covered the top two in qualifying, with Hill’s Williams right behind him. Three consecutive poles, all converted into wins – which themselves made it four victories from the first four races of the season.

The Benetton was powered by a Ford V8 in a field dominated by V10 Renaults, yet no one could touch him over a single lap or across a race distance.

He would go on to win the championship that year, the first of seven.

The wins club

Hill: Hungary, Belgium and Italy, 1993

Hill had only two Formula 1 starts to his name before Williams promoted him alongside Prost for 1993.

By mid-summer, he was knocking on the door of a first win, denied twice in quick succession – by engine failure at Silverstone, then a tyre failure at Hockenheim.

When the breakthrough finally came, at the Hungaroring, it arrived emphatically: Prost stalled on the warm-up lap, Hill led from the first corner and won by over a minute and lapped everybody except Riccardo Patrese and Gerhard Berger. Hill became the first son of a Formula 1 world champion to win a grand prix.

Two weeks later at Spa, a slow second pitstop dropped Prost behind Hill and Schumacher. Hill held on, winning by 3.7 seconds from Schumacher, with Prost third, a result that also sealed the constructors’ championship for Williams.

Then Italy, at Monza, where Hill won again from second on the grid as Prost’s challenge for the race victory fell away.

Three wins in three consecutive grands prix, in his maiden winning season, from a team that was outright dominant but where Hill was still establishing himself alongside one of the sport’s great drivers.

Until Antonelli’s run, he remained the only man to win his first three races in the same calendar year.

Häkkinen: Jerez, Melbourne and Interlagos, 1997-1998

Häkkinen had spent six seasons in Formula 1 – several of them in uncompetitive machinery, one recovering from a near-fatal crash in Adelaide – before he finally won a grand prix.

When it came, at the 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez, the circumstances were almost theatrical: Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve collided while fighting for the championship lead. Schumacher retired and Villeneuve’s car was damaged, which allowed the McLarens to catch him.

With the championship on the line, Villeneuve let the McLarens through and Häkkinen, having regained second place from David Coulthard thanks to team orders, went on to win.

The victory was real enough – Häkkinen had led the race before an erroneous pit call dropped him behind Coulthard, and he had fought back to the front – but the dramatic backdrop made it feel as if the sport had handed him a gift. He became the first Finn to win a Formula 1 race.

The following season opened with McLaren’s new MP4/13, Adrian Newey’s first design for the team, which was dominant from the first lap.

In Australia, Häkkinen led, was called into the pits by mistake, fell behind Coulthard, and was then waved through under a pre-race agreement between the two drivers. A win that carried an asterisk.

But in Brazil, there was no asterisk: Häkkinen controlled the race from pole to flag, with Coulthard unable to live with his pace in qualifying or the race.

Three wins in succession – straddling two seasons and one of the most dramatic championship conclusions the sport had seen – announced the arrival of the driver who would go on to win back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999.