ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 29
  Qualifying Differentials
  by Marcel Borsboom, Netherlands

Atlas F1 is going to keep an eye on the battle between teammates throughout the season with a simple measurement: we compare the qualifying times of each driver against his teammate's result. After every Grand Prix, we will show how teammates have fared up against each other, and where they are overall since the beginning of the season. At the end of the season, the World Champion of Qualifying Differentials will be elected - the driver who was most beaten by his teammates, in seconds. Only those who participate in at least 15 of the 17 rounds are eligible for the coveted crown; and for those who made the efforts and participated in all 17 races, the best and worst result will be scrapped.


With ten qualifying sessions completed for 2000, the differentials are on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Austria Notables

  • Herbert. Even though Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine was away from this weekend's qualifying, and although Johnny Herbert outqualified Luciano Burti, Irvine's sub, by over half a second, Herbert has returned to the top of the overall differentials table - the gap, remaining the same since France, was enough to elevate him on top of the Minardi duo and that of BAR.

  • Zonta. Ricardo Zonta put in his best ever qualifying position - sixth - pipping teammate Jacques Villeneuve by just 0.002 of a second! This is the second time this year that the Brazilian had outqualified Villeneuve, but he is still very close to the top of the overall averages table.

  • Schumacher Sr. This is the first season, in his 10-season long career, that Michael Schumacher was outqualified more than once in one season. Kudos to Barrichello for that.

  • Schumacher Jr. Well, this really was a weekend to forget for Ralf Schumacher, who was not only outqualified (for the third time this year) by rookie Jenson Button, but also set his worst ever qualifying result, 19th on the grid.

The average gap between teammates in Austria was remarkably small - only 0.288s - and the smallest so far this year: the gap in France was 0.400; Canada had 0.449; 0.486 in Monaco; 0.546s in Europe; 0.48s in Spain; 0.725s in Britain; 0.654s in San Marino; 0.455s in Brazil; and 0.874s in Australia. 

Austrian Differentials                Total Averages through Austrian   
-----------------------------         ----------------------------      
Slower         Diff.   Faster         Slower        Diff.   Faster      
Mazzacane    > 0.697 > Gene           Herbert     > 0.704 > Irvine      
Burti        > 0.584 > Herbert        Mazzacane   > 0.694 > Gene        
Frentzen     > 0.403 > Trulli         Zonta       > 0.619 > Villeneuve  
Coulthard    > 0.385 > Hakkinen       Heidfeld    > 0.597 > Alesi       
Wurz         > 0.380 > Fisichella     Button      > 0.583 > R.Schumacher
Alesi        > 0.267 > Heidfeld       Wurz        > 0.299 > Fisichella  
M.Schumacher > 0.202 > Barrichello    Barrichello > 0.265 > M.Schumacher
Diniz        > 0.170 > Salo           Diniz       > 0.177 > Salo        
de la Rosa   > 0.073 > Verstappen     Trulli      > 0.106 > Frentzen    
R.Schumacher > 0.010 > Button         Coulthard   > 0.056 > Hakkinen    
Villeneuve   > 0.002 > Zonta          de la Rosa  > 0.016 > Verstappen

Marcel Borsboom© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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