For several years now, Atlas F1 kept an eye on the battle between teammates with a simple measurement: comparing the qualifying times of each driver against his teammate's. The new qualifying format has made the comparison somewhat difficult - potentially, every driver could be running with a different fuel load. Moreover, with only one lap each, small errors could divert the results of any comparison significantly. But, we believe that over an entire season all these factors even out and the overall qualifying differentials between teammates remains the best tool to compare the natural capabilities of the drivers. So, with a few new charts and several observations - it's time to see who's hot and who's not...

With four qualifying sessions completed for 2003, the differentials are once again on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Malaysian Notables

• Setting the Record Straight: Fernando Alonso, Justin Wilson, Cristiano da Matta, and Antonio Pizzonia - all set their best qualifying position, while Jarno Trulli equalled his previous best. This was also Renault's best qualifying result since the 1984 French Grand Prix.

• Friday versus Saturday: When comparing the two sessions, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Cristiano da Matta, and Rubens Barrichello all seem to get better results on Friday than on Saturday. This, of course, doesn't necessarily reflect on their ability - it could just well be down to the various fuel levels and strategies.

• Going Down! With now two troubled Saturday qualifying sessions for Kimi Raikkonen, the maiden winner of Malaysia is also at the bottom of the 'elevator' (see below).

  

  

  

  

  

  

  The Elevator

  We've decided to also keep track of the position changes between Friday and Saturday. We're not yet sure if it means anything, but we'll keep an eye on the results for the time being...

  Malaysian Elevator
  
  Driver              Fri    Sat    Change
  Alonso              10       1     + 9
  Pizzonia            20      15     + 5
  Panis               14      10     + 4
  Trulli               6       2     + 4
  Villeneuve          15      12     + 3
  Heidfeld             7       6     + 1
  Coulthard            5       4     + 1
  Verstappen          18      18     =  
  Button               9       9     =  
  Webber              16      16     =  
  Wilson              19      19     =  
  da Matta            11      11     =  
  M.Schumacher         1       3     - 2
  Fisichella          12      14     - 2
  Firman              17      20     - 3
  Barrichello          2       5     - 3
  Raikkonen            4       7     - 3
  R.Schumacher        13      17     - 4
  Frentzen             8      13     - 5
  Montoya              3       8     - 5
  

  

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