New engine for Albers as Monteiro has tyre problems

Midland F1 Racing struggled to overcome bad luck and challenging track conditions in Budapest today while carrying out its tyre choice and set-up programme in preparation for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

For the second consecutive race weekend, Christijan Albers' M16 will require an engine change, a procedure that will penalise him with a 10-place grid penalty. Tiago Monteiro, meanwhile, saw very limited running as his crew focused on solving a variety of handling issues.

In a very busy afternoon session that saw 27 cars take to the track, reserve driver Markus Winkelhock managed to post a competitive 12th-fastest lap.

The team will have to work very hard, however, if it is to regain its impressive qualifying form of late.

Tiago Monteiro "We're having some problems with our tyre choice right now, because apart from Markus' car, we weren't able to get much data today. Personally, I wasn't able to get much running in - 4 timed laps in the morning, 4 in the afternoon - so it wasn't a very productive day for me, to be fair. Time-wise, we didn't do too badly, but we don't know what the other teams are doing or what kinds of problems they're having. We're going to have to sit down for a nice long meeting with the engineers, analyse all the problems, and work together with Bridgestone to find a good solution. "

Christijan Albers "My luck seems to be at a low point right now: another race, another engine change, another back-of-the-grid start. But the only thing you can do in situations like this is to keep fighting and keep pushing. I see it as a test of character and, believe me, I will use it as motivation to show what I'm made of. I have nothing to lose now, so it will really be a 'maximum attack' charge from me on Sunday."

Markus Winkelhock "It was a pretty good day for me, all things considered. First of all, I had to learn the track because I'd never driven here before and the conditions were quite challenging, so I took it easy on the first few laps. But I picked it up in a short amount of time, as I usually do on strange circuits. We're having some problems choosing the right tyres and I'm not really sure which way to go at this point, so I'm going to have to discuss all the options with the engineers. But overall, I'm pretty happy with the job I did today, putting in a good number of laps and getting a lot of data. Hopefully, it will help the team move ahead tomorrow."

Johnny Herbert, Sporting Relations Manager "We're finding it very difficult to get the car to work with the tyres at the moment, so we'll have to have to see what happens tomorrow. Christijan's engine change is also obviously disappointing, because things like that don't help us get the data we need. We'll have to see how the weather plays tomorrow and Sunday, but so far, it's been very tricky for the guys to find a driveable balance."

Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer "As usual, we encountered a very dirty and green track here on Friday, and we've just been getting to grips with that all day. At least we were fortunate that it remained dry all day, with both drivers reporting mostly low grip. Christijan's engine change is another blow for us, and unfortunately, for the second race in row, he will have to take another grid penalty - a situation made all the worse at a track like this, where overtaking is exceedingly difficult."