ATLAS F1 - THE JOURNAL OF FORMULA ONE MOTORSPORT
2004 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.

Fastest times is a listing of the fastest time by each team at the eight tracks that have been used during winter testing. For each team at each track, the fastest time set during testing is listed first. This is then followed by the fastest time set during the November/December testing period, January testing period and February testing period. The fastest time is also highlighted in the period it was set.

Unlike last year, when Ferrari sat at the top of the tables at most circuits, a group of teams share top spoils, with Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Williams hanging around the top of most tables, Renault in the top three at every circuit they visited except Valencia. However at Barcelona's new layout a BAR still tops the times, setting a time nearly a second faster than any other team, and nearly four seconds faster than they went on the old configuration.

Barcelona:

Barcelona (new layout):

Fiorano:

Imola:

Jerez:

Misano:

Mugello:

Silverstone:

Valencia:

Vallelunga:


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 48 drivers have driven for ten teams in these tests between November and February, for a total of 541 driver days of testing, a slight increase over last year. Every team has taken part in the testing, as has every driver scheduled to participate in the 2004 season.

Takuma Sato and Marc Gene share the top spot with 28 days, ahead of Felipe Massa with 26, Luca Badoer and Juan Pablo Montoya on 25 and Jenson Button, Franck Montagny and Ralf Schumacher with 24. From the teams' perspective, Williams-BMW led the way with 92 days, thirteen days ahead of Ferrari, with BAR-Honda next on 65 days, one day ahead of McLaren-Mercedes and Toyota, with Renault not far behind.


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 36121 laps were completed during testing between November and February, about 25 percent more than last year. Takuma Sato leads this table 2019 laps, followed by Franck Montagny on 1952, Marc Gene on 1832 laps and Luca Badoer on 1805, Sato the only driver in the top four that is scheduled to race in 2004. The rest of the order remains fairly evenly spread out, while at the bottom of the table is a group that includes drivers that the teams are evaluating for possible further use as test drivers.

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


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. Again, 36121 laps have been completed during the testing period. On top again are Williams, 1001 laps ahead of Ferrari, with Renault next, just three laps ahead of Toyota. BAR-Honda and McLaren Mercedes aren't too far behind. The rest of the teams have completed half or less than the amount of testing Williams completed. Every team except Sauber completed more laps than last season, some completing significantly more laps than last season - Minardi nearly tripling their testing, BAR nearly doubling their testing, while Jaguar and Jordan increased their testing by about 50 percent.

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 158675.435 km has been covered during testing, the equivalent of more than 520 Grand Prix distances! These two tables follow a similar pattern to the previous tables, Takuma Sato and Williams again heading the tables, with Sato alone having covered more than 29 Grand Prix distances, while the top nineteen drivers covered more distance than the total length of last season's races.

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


The track totals show the total distance, total laps and total driver days completed during testing at each track. This year the most popular venue has been Jerez, with Barcelona a clear second, these two tracks seeing over 100,000 km of punishment inflicted on it by the various teams during the off-season. As the averages show, each driver each day at most of the tracks has averaged between 80% and 110% of a race distance, with some drivers completing over 100 laps in a day!

This table is listed in alphabetical order.


The averages compare the average distance completed and average laps completed by the drivers and teams. The drivers leading the table have averaged around a race distance per day of testing, with all the teams except Jordan and Minardi averaging around a race distance per day per driver.

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


Finally, the battle of the two tyre companies. Since BAR's switch to Michelin, Bridgestone have only four teams at their disposal while Michelin has six. On top of this, Ferrari is the only Bridgestone team running at the top level, with Bridgestone also having the two lowest ranked teams on its books. Compared to last year, Bridgestone have completed nearly fifteen percent less kilometres while Michelin have completed just over fifty percent more. Michelin's lap and distance totals are around three times Bridgestone's while they have completed just over two and a half times the number of driver days. When looking at the averages, Bridgestone runners are more competitive, within around ten to fifteen percent of the average running per driver day compared to Michelin.

This table is also listed in alphabetical order.

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Volume 10, Issue 9
March 3rd 2004

Atlas F1 Exclusive

The Mega Man
by Biranit Goren

2004 Australian GP Preview

2004 Australian GP Preview
by Tom Keeble

Australian GP Facts & Stats
by Marcel Schot

The F1 Trivia Quiz
by Marcel Borsboom

Articles

2004 SuperStats: Winter Testing
by David Wright

The Paint Job - Part II
by Bruce Thomson

Columns

Rear View Mirror
by Don Capps

Bookworm Critique
by Mark Glendenning

On the Road
by Garry Martin

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones

The Weekly Grapevine
by Dieter Rencken



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