This factor measures the qualifying time difference between pole position and that of 10th on the grid
Qualifying times were only available from 1994. We decided to add this factor anyway even though it does unfairly favour recent years. Interestingly it shows a significant cycling of gaps. Anecdotally this is predominantly due to certain teams finding a competitive advantage when new technical rules are introduced (Adrian Newy take a bow though Colin Chapman may have given him a run if we had stats back to the original Lotus era). Nothing in F1 remains secret for long and engineering convergence typically lowers the time gaps before rule changes again provide new stimulus to engineering diversity and deltas blow out again.
Gaps have generally been getting larger since the 2001 low point
