2006 Hungarian Grand Prix - Final Practice & Qualifying
Midland Formula 1 Racing made a welcome return to form in
qualifying for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix, with Tiago
Monteiro posting the team's fastest time of the weekend thus
far in the first session.
Monteiro was 15th after the first 15 minutes but slipped
to down to 16th position in Q2, running on worn tyres in order
to save an extra fresh set for the race. His teammate, Christijan
Albers - who will start at the back of the grid as the result
of a 10-position engine change penalty - also elected to conserve
his machinery for the race while setting the 21st-fastest
time of the opening session.
Tiago Monteiro (POR), Car #18 (Chassis: M16-03)
Third Timed Practice Session: 13th, 1:23.819 (+3.024), 12
laps completed
Qualifying: 16th, 1:22.009 (+2.41 from Pole Position lap),
6+3 laps completed
Quote: "I'm very pleased to be back
in second qualifying, obviously. We had been struggling since
the beginning of the weekend with tyre choices and set-up
issues, so it's great to be able to give the team that much-needed
boost. The balance of the car was so much better today than
it was yesterday, and although I got held up by traffic on
my first timed run, I put it to the back of my mind and just
went all out on the second. The improved handling allowed
me to push the car much harder than I did previously, and
it showed in the time. In the second session, we went out
on used tyres because we decided it would be more important
to have the new ones for the race tomorrow than to try and
gain one more place, if any. I think the team made the right
decision, and I congratulate them because they overcame a
lot of tricky obstacles to get us to where we need to be."
Christijan Albers (NED), Car #19 (Chassis: M16-02)
Third Timed Practice Session: 21st, 1:26.047 (+5.252), 12
laps completed
Qualifying: 21st, 1:23.146 (+3.547 from Pole Position lap),
6 laps completed
Quote: "Knowing that we had the engine
penalty, we chose to adopt a pretty conservative approach
today, one that would save both the tyres and equipment, so
we ran very few laps in practice this morning. My first qualifying
run was pretty good and showed we're moving in the right direction,
but I made a slight mistake on the second run that cost us
a bit of time. Thankfully, it wasn't what I would call an
expensive mistake, and I would prefer to make it when I know
have a 10-place penalty rather than when I have a legitimate
chance to qualify well. I'm not a robot, and human beings
can make mistakes. But it's OK, we know we can be a little
bit quicker, and tomorrow's when it counts for real."
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "Tiago
did a very good job for us today, and it was nice to see the
team fight back from the problems we had yesterday. We might
have been able to go a bit faster in the second qualifying
session but we decided to save our new tyres for the race.
In my opinion it's the right approach, because I think that
many teams will struggle with tyres tomorrow. Christijan is
starting from the back anyway because we had to change his
engine, so his qualifying performance wouldn't have counted
for much, anyway."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "It
was quite a pleasing qualifying session for Tiago. Obviously,
we've found a bit more performance in his car than what we've
seen this weekend, which is positive, and we think we're looking
increasingly better for the race. With Chris, anyway, we're
taking a 10-place penalty at the end of this session, but
we're also optimistic that we should be able to produce something
good with him tomorrow. "
Johnny Herbert, Sporting Relations Manager: "All
in all, it was a good session. Tiago put a very good lap together
and got through to the second session, which is where we expect
to be. In Q2, we decided it wasn't worth sacrificing a new
set of tyres to gain an extra position - if that - so we sent
him out on used tyres just to have a go. Christijan couldn't
really find the perfect balance on his car but I think he'll
be in good shape for tomorrow. Now we just need to have a
good, consistent race and hope for something fortunate to
happen. It's a difficult circuit to overtake on, but things
do happen here occasionally."
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