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, 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 new charts and several observations - it's time to see who's hot and who's not...

With twelve qualifying sessions completed for 2003, the differentials are once again on a roll! Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights.

Austrian Notables

• Setting the Record Straight: While Kimi Raikkonen equalled his best ever qualifying result - second on the grid - Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia set in Austria their best grid position ever, fourth and eighth respectively.

• Exclusions We removed the Jordan duo of Ralph Firman and Giancarlo Fisichella from the Friday differentials graph, due to Firman's crash. Likewise, the Renault duo of Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli were excluded from the Saturday differentials graph due to Alonso's crash that day.

• Going Down! The elevator's range at Austria was exceptionally large - all the way from -14 (Mark Webber) to +10 (Ralf Schumacher).

The Elevator

We've decided to also keep track of the position changes between Friday and Saturday. We're not yet sure if it means anything, but we'll keep an eye on the results for the time being...