Question: how many grands prix has Aston Martin F1 started? Your four options are: 0, 5, 38 or 535. Any ideas? Well, here’s the thing: all four answers are correct. Sort of. Confused? Me too. Let me explain.

We’ll start with zero. Aston Martin is one of two ‘new’ teams on the 2021 grid, so this year’s opening race will be its first. Except the answer could also be five, because Aston Martin ran a works team in five races in 1959 and 1960 (it failed to qualify for a sixth).

Perhaps they don’t count, given that Aston team is entirely unrelated to the new one. The new Aston is a rebrand of Racing Point – so you could argue the answer is 38, the number of races the team contested in that form.

Mind you, Racing Point was founded in 2018 when Lawrence Stroll bought the assets of Force India when it went into administration. While F1 bosses ruled that Force India’s entry wasn’t transferable, Racing Point was essentially the same team running from the same Silverstone factory. And that team’s history goes back through short-lived identities as Spyker and Midland to the Jordan team that entered F1 in 1991. And that Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin team has contested a total of 535 races.

So, all four are legitimate answers. Confusing, eh?

2 Spyker