Atlas F1 Stats - Qualifying Differentials
Qualifying Differentials
|
|
Australian GP Edition
|
As mentioned throughout last year's editions 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 (again).
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 first Grand Prix is over and the differentials have been calculated for Australia. Let's see which
drivers deserve bragging rights.
Notables
- Herbert. OK, anyone who tuned into Atlas F1 Qualifying Differential last year knows Johnny
dominates his teammates. In fact, I think we all remember Johnny taking the differential cup last year,
right? Well, well, well... what did we say about Alesi being given the number one seat against Johnny?
"A big mistake" I think it was, no? To put it politely, Johnny raped Alesi in Australia. What's that
I hear? Alesi's first race in a new car, a new team? Well, my little franco-siciliani fans, dig out
those Duke videos of the so-called Alesi glory days because that's about the happiest you're going
to get this year.
- Takagi. Satoru Nakajima's protege has burst onto the F1 scene and destroyed his teammate in
the first race of the season. Takagi has always been fast and, in testing, humiliated several established
teams with the times he set in the Tyrrell. Now, it's time for the 1995 F3000 runner-up, Ricardo Rosset,
to be humiliated. Fans of Rosset said that in 1996 he didn't have the quality of equipment that Jos
Verstappen did and, in 1997, the Lola was just crap. We may finally have proof that Ricardo is out of his depth.
Either Takagi is stunning and Rosset capable or Takagi simply good and Rosset just too slow.
The decision is yours, but Takagi wasn't THIS fast in Formula Nippon!
- Barrichello. On paper, Barrichello has resumed his domination of Magnussen after a break for
the last quarter of 1997, but this doesn't tell the story. After choosing an "innovative" carbon-fibre
gearbox and sticking with the Ford V10, reliability was always going to be an issue. Neither driver
managed to get out much before the end of the session. However, Rubens got more track time and finished up very impressive
1.523 seconds quicker.
- Trulli. Jarno's differential should not be as great as indicated. Until the disqualification of his two
fastest laps for leaving his steering wheel
unattached when he spun, Panis was only 0.112 seconds behind his young Italian teammate. This would have
put the differential third from the bottom. Basically, Trulli is ahead due to a mistake by his teammate and, at the
end of the day, this is what it's all about.
Other notables included Esteban Tuero who beat his more experienced teammate by 0.655 seconds and Giancarlo
Fisichella who beat the highly rated Alex Wurz (2-1 over Alesi last year) by almost a second.
NOTES
The raw data are copyright © 1997, 1998 Fédération Internationale de
l'Automobile (8 place de la Concorde, Paris 75008 France). These
compilations are copyright © 1997 Atlas F1. Reproduction in any
form of these compilations is forbidden without the express permission
of Atlas F1 or Atlas WWW.
The data are subject to revision. Atlas F1 will not be held
responsible for any errors or omissions.
Send comments to: kaizar@atlasf1.com