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

Europe Notables

• Setting the Record Straight: The European Grand Prix saw BAR's Takuma Sato set his best qualifying result to date, finishing second and on the front row of the grid.

• Exclusions from the second session: The Sauber duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa as well as the McLaren duo of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen were excluded from the chart of the second session, because Fisichella and Coulthard both chose not to run their fast lap.

• Strategy and Fuel: the qualifying difference between drivers on two stops and those on three stops - or drivers on a one stop race strategy and drivers on two stops - can clearly be seen in the differential between Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello in the second qualifying session.

• Changes since Monaco: In the averages for session one, Ralf Schumacher is now faster than his Williams teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, and in the averages for the second session, Renault's Jarno Trulli is now faster than teammate Fernando Alonso.

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