The average age of a Formula 1 driver is now lower than ever before, but why? And is the current trend for running a well-backed rookie for a year and then dropping them for another, a good thing? Dieter Rencken investigates

Last week's AUTOSPORT magazine contained a remarkable sidebox to the main story. A group of world champions were ranked in order of victories at the age of 24 years, five months and five days (Sebastian Vettel's age as of last Thursday), with each frame further listing grand prix starts, poles and titles won.

Vettel obviously came out on top in all categories, with Jim Clark, for example, having made just four grand prix appearances at that age, each of which had delivered no pole position or wins. By extension, the Scot had no title to his name either.

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