ATLAS F1 - THE JOURNAL OF FORMULA ONE MOTORSPORT
2002 SuperStats: Winter Testing

By David Wright, Australia
Atlas F1 Magazine Writer



Advice: With each table, click on a column's header (title) to sort the table by that column; click again to change the sorting order.

Driver days compares the number of days each driver, and team, has driven during winter testing, with a driver day being counted for each driver that tests for a team on a day of testing - multiple drivers for one team on a day of testing mean multiple driver days. A total of 33 drivers have driven for nine teams in these tests during November and December, for a total of 164 driver days of testing. Every team apart from Jordan has taken part in the testing, while of those drivers confirmed to drive in 2003, Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Minardi's Justin Wilson have not taken part.

Of the drivers that have taken part, Luciano Burti leads the way with 14 days, from Cristiano da Matta on 11 days, with four more drivers having tested for 10 days. From the teams' perspective, Williams-BMW lead the way, from Ferrari, with Renault, Toyota, Jaguar-Cosworth and McLaren-Mercedes closely bunched together.


The driver totals compared the total number of laps completed by each driver during testing, with the total number of laps broken down circuit by circuit. A total of 9130 laps were completed during testing in November and December. Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer clearly leads the way with 821 laps, as he pounds away the miles for Ferrari and Bridgestone. Next up is fellow Ferrari test driver Luciano Burti, though unlike Badoer who tested with other cars at Barcelona and Jerez, all Burti's testing has been at the Ferrari-owned circuit of Mugello and their private test circuit Fiorano. Then there are a large group of drivers who have completed several days of testing with between 300 and 550 laps of testing. At the top of this group are the two Toyota drivers of Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta. Similar to Ferrari, about half of Toyota's testing has been by themselves at the Paul Ricard circuit, with most of da Matta's testing at the French circuit. At the bottom of the table is a group mainly comprising of drivers the teams evaluated for possible further use as test drivers.

By default, the table is sorted by total laps in descending order.


The team totals compared the total number of laps completed by each driver during testing, with the total number of laps broken down circuit by circuit. Again, 9130 laps have been completed during the testing period. On top, just edging ahead in a close finish were Williams, 29 laps ahead of Ferrari, both teams spreading their testing over several circuits. Quite a distance further back but bunched close together were McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota and Renault. Meanwhile Minardi's testing was little more than a token effort, completing just over 100 laps.

By default, the table is sorted by total laps in descending order.


The distance totals compare the total distance completed by drivers and teams during testing. A total of 41885.061 km has been covered during testing, the equivalent of over 137 Grand Prix distances! These two tables follow a similar pattern to the previous tables, although Ferrari take the lead in the teams' table by more than a race distance despite covering 19 less laps than Williams, while Toyota similarly breaks clear of McLaren and Renault. Minardi's testing is the equivalent of just over one and a third Grands Prix, compared to pacesetter Ferrari who completed approximately 24 and a half! Meanwhile Luca Badoer's testing has seen him cover the equivalent of more than 12 race distances.

By default, the tables are sorted by total distance in descending order.


The averages compare the average distance completed and average laps completed by the drivers and teams. Once again Luca Badoer leads the averages in both average distance and laps, but a much more mixed order then follows, with Luciano Burti in the middle of the pack as Juan Pablo Montoya and Heinz-Harald Frentzen zoom up to nearly tie for second. Similarly, although Ferrari lead the way in the battle of the teams, BAR is next just ahead of Toyota and Sauber Petronas.

This table is listed in alphabetical order (drivers by surname).


Finally, the battle of the two tyre companies. With the departure of Arrows, and Jordan deciding to skip testing before launching their new car in 2003, Bridgestone had only three teams at their disposal while Michelin had all six teams out there running. This table reflects this imbalance, with Michelin's totals either just under or just over double Bridgestone's total in each of the categories of total distance, total laps, and driver days. Interestingly, when looked at the averages, Bridgestone runners have averaged almost 20% more running per driver day compared to their Michelin counterparts.

This table is also listed in alphabetical order.


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Volume 8, Issue 51
December 18th 2002

Articles

The White Tornado
by Doug Nye

Da Matta's Big Move
by Graham Holliday

2002 SuperStats: Winter Testing
by David Wright

Columns

Rear View Mirror
by Don Capps

Bookworm Critique
by Mark Glendenning

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones

The Grapevine
by Tom Keeble



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