Good practice day for MF1
Midland F1 Racing demonstrated improved pace and perfect reliability during its preparations for the Australian GP, particularly in the second practice session today. Monteiro and Albers are confident towards tomorrow's qualifying session.
Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director “We covered a lot of laps today with the third car, while the two race cars ran their normal programmes. We’ve tried to work out a couple of reliability issues over the course of the afternoon, so hopefully we’ve made some good progress there. The racecars worked well today, with no issues. Christijan had a small spin at the end of the second session this afternoon, but the damage was relatively minor and shouldn’t be a problem for tomorrow. We’ve got plenty of useful information to digest overnight regarding tyres and strategy, lots of good data. Our pace was also pretty encouraging. Tiago made a reasonably good run late in the second session, so we’re looking forward to building on that tomorrow.”
Tiago Monteiro (POR)
Chassis: M16-03, Car #18
First Timed Session Classification: 14th, 1:31.812, 10 laps completed
Second Timed Session Classification: 18th, 1:29.713, 21 laps completed
“In the morning, we didn’t do any performance runs; we just checked out all the systems to make sure everything was working properly. We had a lot of work planned for today and we managed to get through it all without any issues. We solved our problems pretty early on, so that allowed us to focus on improving the car in the second session. The team did a fantastic job – the more I drove, the better the car felt. I like this kind of track, so I felt confident right away and was able to push hard. We know where our weak points are, so we’re going to work on that tonight. But obviously, compared to our opponents, today was a pretty good day. It’s still too early to get overly excited about the times, but it’s good to know we’re making progress with the car’s pace and that we know how to get even more out of it.”
Christijan Albers (NED)
Chassis: M16-02, Car #19
First Timed Session Classification: 13th, 1:31.039, 9 laps completed
Second Timed Session Classification: 24th, 1:30.830, 18 laps completed
“I have to say we had a really good day today. The first session went really well, and the second session had a promising start on the same set of tyres. Then, when we changed to a new set of tyres that just didn’t suit me, I had a lot of problems with understeer and raising the temperature. I also had a little spin near the end of the session, which was a shame, because that spoiled what was otherwise a very productive day. But we’ll be all right tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll find a solution and make the right tyre choices.”
Markus Winkelhock (GER)
Chassis: M16-04, T-Car
First Timed Session Classification: 17th, 1:36.859, 17 laps completed
Second Timed Session Classification: 26th, 1:31.260, 25 laps completed
“I think it went pretty well today. During the first practice, I had to learn the track, as everything was new. I was very careful in the beginning because the track is narrow and the walls are quite close to the track. The surface is also pretty bumpy, so I had to search for all the bumps before pushing hard. In the second session, we changed something on the car, which made it much more balanced and easier to drive. I was feeling much more comfortable toward the end but I encountered some yellow flags when I went out on a new set of tyres, and I also made a small mistake, so that’s unfortunate. But I think we’ve got enough information to make a good tyre choice for the weekend, and that’s the most important thing.”
