Most of the headlines in Australian Supercars this year were about the competitive advantage the new Ford Mustang GT had, and that wasn’t surprising given DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won 18 races using the car on the way to his second successive title.

No driver has ever won that many races in a season, and it’s been a decade since anyone went on as long a winning run as McLaughlin did this year.

His team-mate Fabian Coulthard also topped the podium twice, before numerous performance breaks brought Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Holdens into the mix. DJR Team Penske, which first started racing in the 1980s, also surpassed 100 wins. Since Penske came on board in 2015, 42 of those wins have taken in place.

Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle was the top rookie in 26th in the standings, making the podium in the last of his seven races. Just ahead of him was series legend Craig Lowndes (Triple 8), who won three races and was 25th in the points.

A further place ahead was Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Richie Stanaway, who only made the top 10 once and retired from racing at the end of the season.

For the first time since the 1994 German Grand Prix, two drivers made their Formula 1 podium debuts in last weekend’s Brazilian GP. Not only that, but they were with two teams that have not had the best fortunes in the turbo hybrid era of the championship.

McLaren finished third with Carlos Sainz Jr after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for crashing out Alex Albon. Remarkably, Sainz had started at the very back.

It was McLaren’s first podium appearance (albeit after the podium ceremony) since the 2014 Australian GP, the first race of the current engine formula.

While Toro Rosso has less historical success, it’s bettered McLaren in two of the five seasons using hybrid power. Prior to 2019, its only podium was its 2008 Italian GP win, but this year it has finished in the top three twice.

Danill Kvyat, who took the team’s sole fastest lap in the 2016 Spanish GP, finished third in Germanyfrom 14th on the grid, while Pierre Gasly came second in Brazil from an impressive sixth in qualifying.

McLaren is now guaranteed fourth in the team standings this year, its best result since 2012, while Toro Rosso could match its 2008 result of sixth.

An upgraded circuit and a faster new car have made this year’s Macau Grand Prix the quickest in history, and that’s before racing has even got underway.

Last year’s track record was broken in free practice one, the Dallara F3 2019 car’s first appearance on track, and its rear-wing based drag reduction system meant that a slipstreaming battle in qualifying led to one driver lapping in the 2m04s. For reference, the record prior to this year was 2m09.910s.

Juri Vips took Hitech GP’s second Macau pole, while Sauber Junior Team by Charouz qualified an impressed third on its circuit debut with Callum Ilott - who had never driven the car before free practice. In total, half of the 30-car grid were below the track record that had been established in FP2.

There was also a 50:50 split between Macau rookies and returnees, with ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard the best of the newcomers in fourth. The majority of the teams are also new to Macau, with only ART, Carlin, Hitech and Prema relying on previous experience.

The packed entry list brings the grid to a size not seen since 2012, and only bettered four times in the last 30 years.