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

United States Notables

• Setting the Record Straight: Toyota driver Olivier Panis equaled his best qualifying place - 3rd on the grid. The previous time was in France 1999 (even though the Frenchman for some reason thinks his previous best was in Argentina 1997...)

• Friday Excluded: Once again this year the rain interrupted the Friday qualifying and therefore the session is not included in this year's Qualifying Differentials.

• And the Winner Is... With only one round to go, it's becoming very clear that Giancarlo Fisichella will win this year's Qualifying Differntial (once we remove all those teammate pairings that were running for less than 14 races this year). Not much surprise in that - of all the pairs on the grid, there is no duo as polar in experience - and perhaps talent - as that of Jordan. Rookie Ralph was up against one of of the most rated drivers of the grid, and the Qualifying Differentials is just one of the symptoms of Fisichella's domination over the Briton.