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 and then January testing, followed by the improvement recorded between November/December and January testing if a time was set in both periods (- indicates a faster time was set in January, while + indicates te team was slower in January).

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. However at Barcelona's new layout a BAR tops the times, setting a time nearly a second faster than any other team, and nearly three seconds faster than they went on the old configuration.

Barcelona:

Barcelona (new layout):

Fiorano:

Jerez:

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 46 drivers have driven for ten teams in these tests between November and January, for a total of 342 driver days of testing, about a 15 percent increase over last year. Every team has taken part in the testing, as has every driver scheduled to participate in the 2004 season.

Marc Gene now takes over the top at the top with 22 days, ahead of Luca Badoer and Felipe Massa with 19 days, just ahead of Takuma Sato on 18, Franck Montagny with 17 and Ricardo Zonta on 16. From the teams' perspective, Williams-BMW continues to lead the way, eleven days ahead of Ferrari, with Toyota, BAR-Honda, Renault and McLaren-Mercedes 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 23505 laps were completed during testing between November and January, about 50 percent more than last year. Marc Gene leads this table as well with 1567 laps, followed by Franck Montagny on 1445, Luca Badoer on 1341, 2004 BAR driver Takuma Sato on 1293, Ricardo Zonta on 1223 and Felipe Massa on 1194, Sato and Massa the only two drivers in the top six with a 2004 race seat. The rest of the order is 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, though possible 2004 Jordan driver Ralph Firman is near the bottom of this group.

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, 23505 laps have been completed during the testing period. On top again are Williams, with Toyota, Ferrari and Renault closely grouped. After being ranked second before Christmas, Jaguar are just behind McLaren, with only Sauber, Minardi and Jordan behind them.

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 101996.142 km has been covered during testing, the equivalent of more than 330 Grand Prix distances! These two tables follow a similar pattern to the previous tables, Marc Gene and Williams again heading the tables, with Gene alone having covered more than 22 Grand Prix distances, while the top six drivers have 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 averages compare the average distance completed and average laps completed by the drivers and teams. Neel Jani remains at the top, having completed one day of testing. Next up is Ryan Briscoe just ahead of Fernando Alonso, with fellow Renault drivers Franck Montagny and Jarno Trulli close behind. In the teams' battle, Renault lead Jaguar-Cosworth with Toyota just behind, followed by Sauber-Petronas, BAR-Honda and Williams-BMW, with McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari less than half a kilometre apart.

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


Finally, the battle of the two tyre companies. With 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. This table tends to reflect this, with Michelin's totals between three and four times Bridgestone's totals in each of the categories of total distance, total laps, and driver days. When looking at the averages, Bridgestone runners are more competitive, within around 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 5
February 4th 2004

Articles

Stand and Deliver
by Dieter Rencken

Technical Analysis: BAR 006
by Craig Scarborough

Technical Analysis: Renault R24
by Craig Scarborough

2004 SuperStats: Winter Testing
by David Wright

2004 Countdown: Facts & Stats
by Marcel Borsboom & Marcel Schot

Columns

The Fuel Stop
by Reginald Kincaid

The F1 Trivia Quiz
by Marcel Borsboom

On the Road
by Garry Martin

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones



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