As mentioned throughout last year's editions of Atlas F1 Qualifying Differentials, we are going to keep an eye on the battle between teammates throughout the season by race and overall averages (again). The measurement is simple. We compare the intra-team difference in seconds on Saturday. Some may say compensation must be given in the favoritism between the number one and two seats within the team. We, on the other hand, do not grant that pardon. For better or worse, our analyses will be on the perfect world of egalitarian status in intra-team rivalry.

So, here we go once more. The first Grand Prix is over and the differentials have been calculated for Australia. Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Notables

1. Herbert. OK, anyone who tuned into Atlas F1 Qualifying Differential last year knows Johnny dominates his teammates. In fact, I think we all remember Johnny taking the differential cup last year, right? Well, well, well... what did we say about Alesi being given the number one seat against Johnny? "A big mistake" I think it was, no? To put it politely, Johnny raped Alesi in Australia. What's that I hear? Alesi's first race in a new car, a new team? Well, my little franco-siciliani fans, dig out those Duke videos of the so-called Alesi glory days because that's about the happiest you're going to get this year.

2. Takagi. Satoru Nakajima's protege has burst onto the F1 scene and destroyed his teammate in the first race of the season. Takagi has always been fast and, in testing, humiliated several established teams with the times he set in the Tyrrell. Now, it's time for the 1995 F3000 runner-up, Ricardo Rosset, to be humiliated. Fans of Rosset said that in 1996 he didn't have the quality of equipment that Jos Verstappen did and, in 1997, the Lola was just crap. We may finally have proof that Ricardo is out of his depth. Either Takagi is stunning and Rosset capable or Takagi simply good and Rosset just too slow. The decision is yours, but Takagi wasn't THIS fast in Formula Nippon!

3. Barrichello. On paper, Barrichello has resumed his domination of Magnussen after a break for the last quarter of 1997, but this doesn't tell the story. After choosing an "innovative" carbon-fibre gearbox and sticking with the Ford V10, reliability was always going to be an issue. Neither driver managed to get out much before the end of the session. However, Rubens got more track time and finished up very impressive 1.523 seconds quicker.

4. Trulli. Jarno's differential should not be as great as indicated. Until the disqualification of his two fastest laps for leaving his steering wheel unattached when he spun, Panis was only 0.112 seconds behind his young Italian teammate. This would have put the differential third from the bottom. Basically, Trulli is ahead due to a mistake by his teammate and, at the end of the day, this is what it's all about.

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