ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 39
  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 fifteen qualifying sessions completed for 2000, the differentials are on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

United States Notables

  • Button. Jenson Button had one thing going for him this weekend: he was not the only one new to this track. With this in mind, he completely overshadowed his teammate Ralf Schumacher throughout the weekend, and into qualifying - setting the highest differential gap of the weekend, only matched by Jacques Villeneuve. Kudos to the young Briton for that.

  • Wurz. It's not clear whether alexander Wurz is having a some kind of a comeback into form lately, or whether it's his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who is suffering from a relapse in form. Either way, the Austrian - soon to be out of a seat with the Benetton team - outclassed and outperformed his Italian teammate throughout the weekend at Indianapolis. In qualifying, Wurz outqualified Fisichella - and for the first time since the San Marino Grand Prix.

  • Villeneuve. In Formula One, it's sometimes hard to judge whether one driver is really all that much better than his teammate. in Jacques Villeneuve's case, it seems as though this is easily resolved: the French-Canadian had been stomping his authority over teammate Ricardo Zonta with furor - the US Grand Prix was the third consecutive qualifying where Villeneuve outqualified Zonta by the largest gap of the field. Indeed, it now seems almost certain that Zonta will end the year as the newly crowned Qualifying Differentials Champion of slow teammates...

The average gap between teammates in the United States was immensely small (although not the smallest this season): 0.290 of a second. This, compared to 0.341s in Italy and 0.561s in Belgium. 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. 

USA Differentials                      Total Averages through USA        
-----------------                      --------------------------        
Slower          Diff.   Faster         Slower        Diff.   Faster      
Zonta         > 0.467 > Villeneuve     Zonta       > 0.656 > Villeneuve  
R.Schumacher  > 0.467 > Button         Barichello  > 0.480 > M.Schumacher
Salo          > 0.463 > Diniz          Herbert     > 0.477 > Irvine      
Alesi         > 0.411 > Heidfeld       Mazzacane   > 0.432 > Gene        
Gene          > 0.352 > Mazzacane      Button      > 0.414 > R.Schumacher
De La Rosa    > 0.335 > Verstappen     Wurz        > 0.361 > Fisichella  
Barrichello   > 0.334 > M.Schumacher   Heidfeld    > 0.298 > Alesi       
Fisichella    > 0.145 > Wurz           Diniz       > 0.173 > Salo        
Herbert       > 0.127 > Irvine         Verstappen  > 0.104 > De La Rosa  
Frentzen      > 0.061 > Trulli         Frentzen    > 0.035 > Trulli      
Hakkinen      > 0.036 > Coulthard      Coulthard   > 0.019 > Hakkinen

Marcel Borsboom© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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