ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 37
  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 fourteen qualifying sessions completed for 2000, the differentials are on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Italy Notables

  • Wurz. The Austrian driver had been largely criticised over the past year, failing to live up to his rookie days' promise. However, in Italy Alex Wurz had merely driven six laps total in the practices of Friday and Satuday, his car suffering all possible mechanical wraths, and yet Wurz qualified just 0.361 of a second behind Giancarlo Fisichella.

  • Villeneuve. The Italian GP's qualifying was to be BAR's highest grid position, with Jacques Villeneuve performing fantastically to place his car on the fourth spot of the grid. In the process, the French-Canadian also stomped his authority over teammate Ricardo Zonta, setting the biggest differential in Italy, and in the overall averages.

  • Changes Since Belgium: Mika Hakkinen has assumed his expected place ahead of teammate David Coulthard, the gap between the two is still, however, very small.

The average gap between teammates in Italy 0.341s, one of the season's lowest. In fact, other than the BAR duo and the Minardi duo, the Italian qualifying was vastly close and could have been the closest ever had it not been for these two teams. The gap, in comparison, at Belgium was 0.561s, and previously, the average in Hungary was 0.584, compared with Germany's 1.072; Austria's 0.288s; France's 0.400; Canada's 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. 

Italy Differentials                   Total Averages through Italy        
------------------------------        ------------------------------      
Slower         Diff.   Faster         Slower         Diff.   Faster       
Zonta        > 1.099 > Villeneuve     Zonta        > 0.669 > Villeneuve   
Mazzacane    > 1.024 > Gene           Irvine       > 0.504 > Irvine       
Button       > 0.391 > R.Schumacher   Barrichello  > 0.491 > M. Schumacher
Wurz         > 0.361 > Fisichella     Mazzacane    > 0.488 > Gene         
Coulthard    > 0.323 > Hakkinen       Button       > 0.477 > R. Schumacher
Frentzen     > 0.309 > Trulli         Fisichella   > 0.397 > Fisichella   
Herbert      > 0.137 > Irvine         Heidfeld     > 0.353 > Alesi        
Heidfeld     > 0.067 > Alesi          Diniz        > 0.222 > Salo         
Barrichello  > 0.027 > M.Schumacher   Verstappen   > 0.137 > De La Rosa   
Verstappen   > 0.006 > de la Rosa     Trulli       > 0.033 > Trulli       
Diniz        > 0.002 > Salo           Coulthard    > 0.023 > Hakkinen

Marcel Borsboom© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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