For the entire season, 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. Now that the season is over it's time to see who's hot and who's not...

Thirty two qualifying sessions, 24 drivers, 15 duels... Forget the World Drivers' Championship; put aside the Constructors' one - this is where it most counts: the Qualifying Differentials 2003 World Championship! And our newly crowned king is... our very own Giancarlo Fisichella!

The Italian heads every single table in the Qualifying Differentials round-up of 2003, bar one. Mind you, last year's QD Champion, Mark Webber, didn't have much problem enhancing his reputation as teammates beater, however he just did not do enough to protect the crown and keep it away from Fisico.

And, before you delve into the final charts of the season, note that five sessions - out of 32 - are not included in the final averages, due to changing weather conditions.

As the season ends, it's also worth looking at the duel between each team pair in absolute numbers. Interestingly, not a single driver among those who participated in nearly the entire season has been able to outqualify his teammate in every single session.

Moreover, World Champion Michael Schumacher, who has in previous years thoroughly beaten his teammates year after year, was outqualified by Rubens Barrichello a straggering six times - more than anyone has ever managed before.

You can also compare between drivers yourself: simply choose below any one of the drivers to see their progress through the year.

Finally, as the 2003 season fashioned a new qualifying format, Atlas F1 has kept track of the changes between the drivers' result in Friday qualifying compared to their final position on Saturday. The elevation changes between the two sessions were meant to indicate something, we just didn't know what...

Well, a year later it's clear that, spread over an entire season, the position a driver obtained on Friday was pretty much what he would obtain on Saturday. In other words, the elevator suggests that even artifical intervention won't change the natural pecking order of Formula One.

Noteworthy, however, are the Williams drivers - Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher have consistently improved their positions from Friday to Saturday. Could it be that they just didn't think Friday qualifying was very important?...

Well, that's it for now folks. We'll be sure to update this long-haul QD comparison in a year's time, but in the mean time we'd like to extend our congratulations to Giancarlo Fisichella on a Job Well Done, and we look forward to seeing him fight for the crown next year. See you in 2004!