fuel system problems for MF1
Although the Midland F1 Racing Team struggled with a fuel system problem and lack of pace in the first session, it rebounded nicely in the afternoon to post improved times and, more importantly, solid reliability.
Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director “All three cars completed their scheduled programmes and gave us a lot of useful information for tonight. Giorgio did a good job on his first Friday with the team, experiencing no problems whatsoever, which is commendable. Both race drivers also completed their programmes, although we lost a small amount of track time when Tiago experienced a fuel system problem late in the first session. The reliability of the cars in the afternoon was encouraging, though, so we think we’ve got a handle on that. Hopefully we’ll make the right tyre choice tonight, and we’ll see what comes tomorrow.”
Tiago Monteiro (POR)
Chassis: M16-03, Car #18
First Session Classification: 14th, 1:39.899, 8 laps completed
Second Session Classification: 26th, 1:39.416, 20 laps completed
Tiago Monteiro “It went OK, generally, because I think we improved the car. At least we’re going in the right direction, I think. I had limited running in the morning session, so I wasn’t able to gather as much information about the tyres as I would have liked. As a result, I was dealing with a little bit of understeer at the beginning of the second session and we had to spend some valuable time getting on top of that. But at least the T-Car put in a lot of laps, so we should have some good information to analyse from that.”
Christijan Albers (NED)
Chassis: M16-02, Car #19
First Session Classification: 17th, 1:40.608, 12 laps completed
Second Session Classification: 24th, 1:38.918, 20 laps completed
Christijan Albers “This morning, we were a little bit off the pace, but the team did some good work during the break and we managed to come a little bit closer to the rest of the field. I think there’s still room to improve, but we made some big steps and put up reasonable times in the second session. We have to see where we can make further gains, and hopefully have a good race.”
Giorgio Mondini (SUI)
Chassis: M16-04, T-Car
First Session Classification: 15th, 1:40.608, 22 laps completed
Second Session Classification: 22nd, 1:38.256, 20 laps completed
Giorgio Mondini “It was great, absolutely fantastic, but my neck let go toward the end of the second session. I did a good run, and I wanted to do a better one – and to be honest, I believe we could have gone even faster – but my neck just couldn’t handle it anymore. No amount of training can prepare you for those kinds of loads. I mean, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, and then – bang – it just lets go, and it’s impossible to recover from that. But the team is just amazing, especially my engineers. They really make things easier, because they take time to explain everything. Overall, I think I did a good job. I can go to sleep tonight knowing I helped the team.”
