They say history has a tendency to repeat itself. If that's true, Nico Rosberg is nailed on to win the 2016 Formula One world championship. The Mercedes driver's win in China was his third consecutive win of the season, and on the nine previous occasions a driver has started a year like that he has gone on to win the championship.
Not only that, it was his sixth in succession following a strong finish to 2015. If he wants to avoid becoming a historical anomaly Rosberg will have to win the championship in F1's longest-ever season, a gruelling year stretching over 21 races. If he is able to turn his dominant start into a championship, he will become the seventh man to do so and follow in some rather famous footsteps:
Alberto Ascari (1953)
Italy's most recent F1 champion came into 1953 with six straight victories to his name for Ferrari. The return of Juan Manuel Fangio -- who had missed the previous season with a broken neck -- with Maserati did not deter Ascari, extending his run to nine wins in Argentina, Netherlands and Belgium, a record which stood for 60 years until it was matched by Sebastian Vettel in 2013. Ascari's comes with an asterix as the 1953 Indy 500 was the second race of that year's championship, but he and his F1 rivals did not enter the prestigious oval race -- meaning he won nine consecutive races of all those he entered. Ascari would wrap up his second world title at the end of the season. The Italian would be killed two years later while testing for Ferrari at Monza.
Juan Manuel Fangio (1954, 1957)
Ascari's switch to Lancia for 1954 sidelined the Italian for much of his title defence as the car was not ready. Enter Fangio, the 1951 champion, who claimed victories in Argentina and Belgium. Then, in a move which differentiates him from the other drivers on this list, he switched teams in time for the French Grand Prix, which he won for Mercedes on the debut of the legendary W196, which would win nine of the 12 races it entered and claim two championships, the German marque's only titles until Lewis Hamilton won in 2014.
By 1957 Fangio had won a further title for Ferrari, which preceded a move back to Maserati. He kicked off the season with wins in Argentina, Monaco and France, claiming another win in Germany on his way to securing a fourth consecutive championship, another record matched by Vettel in the current decade. Fangio would race twice more, in Argentina and France the following year, before retiring for good.
Ayrton Senna (1991)
Though the MP4/6 was not the dominant force of McLaren's legendary 1988 challenger, the MP4/4, Senna powered his way to four straight wins at the start of 1991 despite having very public misgivings about the car in winter testing. He kicked off the season with a win in the USA, an emotional first victory in his native Brazil, followed by San Marino and Monaco. Williams' resurgence in the middle of the season brought Nigel Mansell into contention, but further wins in Hungary and Belgium helped Senna wrap up a third title -- which would prove to be his last -- at the penultimate round in Japan. At the time it made him the sport's youngest-ever three-time champion.
Nigel Mansell (1992)
The stars finally aligned for Mansell in 1992. The all-conquering Williams FW14B package coincided with the end of McLaren's period of incredible dominance in the sport. Six pole positions in a row led to five consecutive wins before Senna broke the run at Monaco. By the time his run had ended, he led team-mate Riccardo Patrese by 28 points (under the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 scoring system). Mansell would secure the win in Hungary with five races to spare. The championship ended with a spectacular fall-out with Williams and a switch to the Newman/Haas team in CART, where another championship duly followed.
Damon Hill (1996)
Despite the emergence of exciting rookie team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, Hill kicked off his championship-winning year with wins in Australia, Brazil and Argentina. A move to Ferrari had nullified the challenge of biggest rival Michael Schumacher, who claimed just three wins in his first year at Maranello. Villeneuve kept the title fight open until the final round in Japan, where Hill won and his team-mate retired with a tyre failure, making him the first second-generation champion -- Rosberg would become the second, emulating 1982 victor Keke.
Michael Schumacher (1994, 2000, 2004)
Schumacher's first championship was tinged with tragedy -- the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. That race also happened to be the scene of Schumacher's third straight win of the year after victories at Interlagos and the Pacific Grand Prix. His title looked to be a shoe-in until two disqualifications and a two-race ban at mid-season brought Damon Hill back into contention. Schumacher would controversially win the title after a collision with Hill in Adelaide at the season finale.
Schumacher switched to Ferrari in 1996, looking to end a championship drought stretching back to Jody Scheckter's in 1979. He had to endure four seasons before ending Maranello's wait in 2000 - kicking off his campaign with wins in Australia, Brazil and San Marino. Despite his strong start it would prove to be a long fight with Mika Hakkinen, with Schumacher eventually claiming his third championship at the penultimate round in Japan.
Schumacher started his seventh and final championship-winning year as he had started his first - with three consecutive wins, this time in Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain. In fact, Schumacher would win 12 of the first 13 races in the F2004 -- ending the season with 13 to his name -- in a dominant run the current Mercedes squad would be proud of. It would prove to be the final year of dominance for the Schumacher/Brawn/Todt triumvirate.