Another issue of Atlas brings us to differential time once again. Skip the next paragraph if you are a regular visitor.

As mentioned in the first edition 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. 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 season is almost half over and the differentials are averaging out. Let's see which drivers deserve bragging rights for the next three weeks.

Notables

1. Barrichello. Danish Domination Part 7. Ouch. Just when we thought Jan may be finally closing the gap on his team-mate, Rubens pulls out the largest differential of the year. Because of the result in Canada, Barrichello closes the gap with Panis' overall average with Nakano. However, with Panis out for quite some time to come, the battle between Rubens and the Frenchman in 1997 Qualifying Differentials has come to a anti-climax.

2. Panis. Remains top of the leader-board through seven qualifying rounds. From the start of the season, Olivier has dominated intra-team differentials without remorse. It shall be interesting how his successor performs against Nakano during the rest of the season. Panis finishes this year with the following differentials over his team-mate: -1.147 AUS, -1.243 BRA, -2.875 ARG, -2.637 SAN, -1.335 MON, -0.946 SPN, -0.939 CAN (StDev 0.773)

3. Schumacher. Michael climbs two places to third position in '97 averages. He currently edges out Herbet by sixteen thousanths of a second and Hill by 0.082 in averages. Schumi still hasn't obtained his touted "one-second faster than anyone" status. But, with Irvine perplexed by his differential in Canada, Michael may go beyond expectations at some point during this year.

4. Herbert. Morbidelli seems to be more of a challenge for Johnny. After two races, Herbert has not been able to obtain the Larini average with his new team-mate so far. The question is: will Morbidelli close the gap on Herbert during the rest of the season? Possibly not.

• 7-0 Club. The following drivers have beaten their team-mates ever qualifying session so far: Panis, Barrichello, M. Schumacher, Herbert, and Hill.

• 6-1 Club. The following drivers have been beaten only once by respective team-mates in qualifying session so far: Trulli and Villeneuve.

Send comments to: kaizar@atlasf1.com