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.

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 40 drivers have driven for ten teams in these tests during November and December, for a total of 190 driver days of testing, a small increase over last year. Every team has taken part in the testing, while of those drivers confirmed to drive in 2005, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (just like the previous two years) and Renault's Fernando Alonso have not taken to the track.

Of the drivers that have taken part, Franck Montagny leads the way with 12 days, with Luca Badoer next on 11, followed by Marc Gene and Christian Klien on 10 days. From the teams' perspective, BAR-Honda lead the way, just one ahead of Ferrari, with Toyota two days further back, McLaren-Mercedes another three behind with Renault, Red Bull-Cosworth and Williams-BMW just 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 13139 laps were completed during testing in November and December, 15 percent more than last year. Renault tester Franck Montagny leads the way with 958 laps, over a hundred laps clear of Ferrari tester Luca Badoer with fellow Ferrari tester Marc Gene leading the rest of the order, which is fairly evenly spread out. 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, 13139 laps have been completed during the testing period. Unlike the last two years, Williams is not on top, as they slip to fifth. Top of the table now is Ferrari just ahead of Toyota, with BAR-Honda and McLaren-Mercedes next, Renault and Red Bull-Cosworth close behind. The remaining three teams put in a comparatively token effort, completing less laps between them than any of the seven teams above them completed individually.

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 58604.993 km has been covered during testing, the equivalent of more than 190 Grand Prix distances! These two tables follow a similar pattern to the previous tables.

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. A shake up in the order occurs in the drivers' listings, with Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis clear leaders ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve. In the teams' battle, Toyota again clearly lead, with eight teams apart from Minardi closely bunched together.

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


Finally, the battle of the two tyre companies. With Sauber switching to Michelin, Bridgestone have only three teams at their disposal while Michelin has seven teams out there. 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. This table reflects this, with Michelin's totals around four times Bridgestone's totals in the categories of total distance and total laps, and about three and a half when looking at driver days. When looking at the averages, Bridgestone runners are more competitive, within 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 51
December 29th 2004

The Season of the Struggle
by Richard Barnes

The Phantom of Fiorano
by Thomas O'Keefe

Tech Talk with Sauber's Willi Rampf
by Craig Scarborough

2004 Testing SuperStats
by David Wright

Bookworm Critique
by Mark Glendenning

On the Road
by Reuters

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones

The Weekly Grapevine
by Dieter Rencken



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