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 in two back-to-back sessions, 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 charts and several observations, it's time to see who's hot and who's not...

With ten double qualifying sessions completed for 2004, the differentials are once again on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

France Notables

• Exclusions from the first session: The Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were excluded from the charts of the first qualifying session, since Barrichello did not set a time due to hydraulic problems.

• Marc Gene: Despite a lacklustre Grand Prix in France, filling in for Ralf Schumacher, Marc Gene's second race with Williams was better, in qualifying terms, than the first. Whereas in Monza last year Gene qualified 0.820 behind Juan Pablo Montoya, this year, in Magny Cours, he was a mere 0.103.

• Changes Since US: Cristiano da Matta has moved back to the sharper end of the chart, and he is now overall faster than Toyota teammate Olivier Panis.

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