We just need more time in the car - Albers

Malaysia was a difficult weekend for both Spyker drivers as they tried to make up for the lack of testing at Sepang from which all their rivals had benefited. Added to that the team had a lot of work to do to hone the new aero package, which was running on track for the first time.

A full race distance would have provided some useful data, but it was not to be. Adrian Sutil retired on the first lap, and then Christijan Albers became the second retirement when a transmission problem put an end to his day. That came as a big disappointment after the car has shown such impressive reliability in testing.

Christijan has yet to see the chequered flag this year, but he remains upbeat about the potential of the package.

"At least my ear plugs didn’t fall out this time!," he joked. "My start was OK. On the inside it was like a traffic jam, and in corner two I was on the outside, and I didn’t want to take so much risk, you know. I got past a few cars, but they got me back.

We struggled a little bit at the beginning of the race with understeer, but everyone knew that the balance would go to oversteer, and we were able to go a bit quicker. But then the gearbox got stuck in first gear, and that was it.

At least I’ve found my way with the car set-up, and I’ve got a little more confidence, and more comfortable also in the car. It was not of course meant to be a testing weekend, but at least I’ve found a car that’s driveable, and that’s good."

The encouraging news was that despite missing the Malaysian test through Friday and Saturday morning the cars set very respectable practice times relative to cars such as the Hondas.

"Hopefully we can make more progress in Bahrain, and then hopefully we can also finish a race, which will be nice. We just need more time in the car, and try more possibilities to get a better set-up, and it will be OK."