In numbers: Brown's brilliant start to 2024

In five rounds, Will Brown has proven many doubters wrong with what has proven a sparkling start to life at Triple Eight.

Tasked with replacing Shane van Gisbergen, and pitted against rising star Broc Feeney, Brown has been superb through five rounds, and is a deserving championship leader.

Such is Brown's form, that he is among the best in recent history, with his form highlighted by two key metrics.

Points scored

Since the 300-point system was introduced in 2008, only two drivers have scored more points through the opening five rounds than Brown, who has been a regular of the podium.

Scott McLaughlin's Mustang title-winning campaigns in 2019 and 2020 were centred on extreme consistency, with McLaughlin winning 31 races across the two seasons.

In 2019, McLaughlin won eight of the first 12 races, and opened up a 142-point lead over his nearest rival. Only a shock DNS at the Grand Prix (after a crash with Cam Waters on the way to the grid) and a fourth in Tasmania prevented McLaughlin from a 100 percent podium record, but he still managed to score 89.7 percent of all points available. In 2020, he was just as strong, winning eight of the first 14 races en route to 88.3 percent of all points scored.

Fastest lap bonus were introduced in 2021, making sprint weekends worth up to 315 points (and four-race weekends worth 320 points). Shane van Gisbergen's 2022 campaign, which featured a record 21 wins, saw the Kiwi score 87.9 of all points on offer in the first five rounds. Van Gisbergen won nine of the first 15 races, and set the fastest lap six times.

Brown has claimed fastest lap bonus points three times, tallying 15 extra points.

Best points percentage after five rounds (since 2008)

Standing on the podium

Brown hasn't been the fastest driver in all 12 races so far, but in championship-winning fashion, he has still made it count. Brown has stood on the podium 11 times, at a rate of 91.7 percent. His only miss came in New Zealand, when he finished ninth in a wet-weather affair.

Brown opened the season with six consecutive top-two finishes, something only five drivers had achieved before. The drivers were Mark Skaife (1994 and 2002), Allan Moffat (1977), Peter Brock (1980), Jim Richards (1991) and van Gisbergen (2021).

In the 300-point era, Brown's top-three percentage through five rounds is the best. Drivers have also raced for individual podiums since 2009.

Skaife began 2002 with 11 consecutive top-two finishes, and was only halted by a reverse grid race at the fifth round in Canberra. Even then, he raced from 29th to 13th in 25 laps! He won the next race, taking his top-two run to 12 in 13 starts in the first five rounds, at 92.3 percent.

Best podium percentage after five rounds (since 2008)

Consistency making Brown's 2024

Where Brown wants to improve is the wins column. Feeney leads the qualifying head-to-head 7-5, and also has five wins to Brown's three.

However, Brown's consistency has been key to his 108-point lead, which was 136 points before Feeney's Darwin sweep.

He is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all 12 races held so far this year, and is the only driver to start all races in the top 10, too. Brown's average finish is also a staggering 2.5, a massive jump versus his combined average across his first three seasons (10.6).

Conversely, Feeney has eight podiums in 12 starts, and has started in the top 10 on 10 occasions, missing out in New Zealand (13th) and Perth (12th).

Brown's average race finish through five rounds