Atlas F1

Qualifying Differentials

Marcel Borsboom, Netherlands

Atlas F1 is going to keep an eye on the battle between team mates 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 favouritism 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.

With five qualifying sessions completed for 1999, the differentials are on a roll. Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Spain Notables

  1. Villeneuve. No doubt, Jacques Villeneuve had a memorable weekend, and should be altogether pleased with himself. Although he had better qualifying results, he has established himself as the much faster qualifier between himself and friend-turned-temporary-teammate, Mika Salo. Villeneuve now leads the total averages table, and it remains to be seen if the situation will remain as such, now that Zonta returns to BAR.

  2. The Arrows Pair. Tora Takagi and Pedro de la Rosa have outqualified each other in turns, to the extent that their average after five rounds stands on... zero. In other words, there's nothing to tell them apart, as far as qualifying performance is concerned. The one to be more complimented by this is Spaniard de la Rosa, who - unlike his teammate - is driving his first season in Formula One.

  3. Irvine. Eddie Irvine outqualified teammate Michael Schumacher, something that by itself is rare. Nonetheless, the difference between the two was virtually nothing - a mere 0.058secs. However, as little as that difference was, one can safely assume it made a world of a difference for Schumacher, when Eddie had his Ferrari up in front on the grid, making one of his worst starts in years...

The average gap between teammates has vastly decreased this weekend, to 0.471sec - almost as low as the Brazil average, of 0.446sec (which is, so far this year, the smallest average). This, compared with 0.922sec in Australia; 0.601sec in San Marino and 0.671sec in Monaco.


Marcel Borsboom© 1999 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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