Encouraging return
MF1 Racing made an encouraging return to form in Sepang on Sunday. Both cars took the chequered flag - in 12th and 13th positions, respectively - and displayed the reliability that had been the team's hallmark in 2005. The team returns to action at Melbourne's Albert Park street circuit for the Australian Grand Prix on April 2nd.
Christijan Albers"We had bad luck with the start, because both Tiago and I ended up being held up for a few laps. Afterward, we got caught up in traffic, so that limited what we were able to do for the rest of the race. That part was unfortunate, but it was nice to finally run a full race without problems. My crew did a great job, and I think we can have an even better result in Australia in two weeks."
Tiago Monteiro "It was kind of a tough race for me. I got stuck behind a couple of slower cars at the beginning, so I think my engineers made a good decision to bring me in early. I really felt I had the pace to get by them, but it was difficult because I was losing ground on the straight sections. I was also disappointed not to be able to put in any quick laps on my fresh tyres because of all the traffic, but that's the way it goes, I guess. We pitted early a second time, which was another good decision, and was able to put in some good laps during that stint. But my race position was pretty much set by that point. I can't say I'm very excited to finish 13th, but in any case, I'd like to congratulate the team on a job well done: the pit stops were quick and clean, and we had good reliability."
Colin Kolles, Team Chief "I'm pleased that we were able to overcome our reliability issues, which was a positive sign. Our pace was not so bad either, compared to where we were last year. What's more, we were actually getting faster toward the end of the race, so we're continuing to make improvements all the time. We still have a lot to learn about this young car, and there is a lot of room to explore its potential."
Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director "It was satisfying to have our first double-finish of the year after the problems we had in Bahrain. We were forced to make manual starts with both cars, which compromised our eventual finish quite heavily. As a result of that, we got stuck behind some slower cars off the lights, but after that, we had pretty good pace for the rest of the race. Both our guys drove brilliant races. The pit stops, the cars and everything else ran fine for the rest of the race. We just have to work on the reliability issues that we had with the driveshafts and get our starts back to normal. We know what we have to do and we should have some new parts for Melbourne."
