2006 Turkish Grand Prix - Final Practice & Qualifying
Midland F1 Racing experimented with two very different strategies
on Saturday in preparation for tomorrow's Turkish Grand Prix.
Christijan Albers adopted a very aggressive set-up to set
the team's fastest lap time of the weekend by more than one
second on his way to entering the second qualifying session.
Had he not been assessed a ten-position engine-change penalty,
his time would have enabled him to start tomorrow's race from
16th position, instead of from the back of the grid.
Tiago Monteiro elected to take a more conservative approach,
one that emphasises equipment conservation and reliability
over outright qualifying pace. He will start from 20th position,
but is confident his strategy will pay dividends over the
course of the race.
Tiago Monteiro (POR), Car #18 (Chassis: M16-03)
Third Timed Practice Session: 21st, 1:29.915 (+2.712), 17
laps completed
Qualifying: 20th, 1:29.901 (+2.994 from Pole Position lap),
8 laps completed
Quote: "I think we made the right choice
for the race. Obviously, it's not ideal for qualifying, but
we need to look beyond that and concentrate on going well
over a race distance. At the end of the day, that's where
you score your points, and that's what we're aiming for. With
that in mind, we're reasonably satisfied with our performance
today."
Christijan Albers (NED), Car #19 (Chassis: M16-02)
Third Timed Practice Session: 19th, 1:29.668 (+2.465), 19
laps completed
Qualifying: 16th, 1:28.639 (+1.732 from Pole Position lap),
8+4 laps completed
Quote: "Today was much better. We made
a lot of progress since yesterday, which was a bad day for
both Midland and Toyota, and I think we did a fantastic job
of making the most of our time on the track today. So many
thanks to the team and Toyota for their efforts, and let's
push hard to do a good result tomorrow."
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "We
still have a lot of work to do, but it must be said that both
drivers did a very good job today. The difference between
Christijan's time and Rosberg's Williams is minuscule, and
better than one of the Red Bulls and both Toro Rossos. So
clearly we have made some progress. Tiago is on a strategy
that plays to his strength of finishing races, which is a
sensible way for him to go. I think it was one of our best
qualifying results so far."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "At
the start of the qualifying session, we found that the increased
track and ambient temperatures had caused the circuit to drop
off a little bit, with a little bit more oversteer on the
early runs. I don't think the starting grid will necessarily
reflect the true pace of our cars. We just kept looking more
and more competitive as the day progressed, particularly Christijan
in the second session. Our programme this morning indicates
that we've got good tyres for the race, and we think it's
going to bode well for a strong performance tomorrow. We're
looking forward to it."
Johnny Herbert, Sporting Relations Manager:
"It was a very good result for us today. Tiago had a
few handling problems, which may have prevented him from putting
together the best possible lap, but that's the way it goes
sometimes. I think he's happy with the set-up he's got for
the race, so we'll see how that plays out. Christijan did
a cracking job to get through to the second round again, ahead
of our immediate competition. I think he wrung every bit of
speed he could out of the car, so well done to him. Tomorrow
is going to be a hard-fought race, I think, among a very tight
field. So I think it will be down to strategy and maintaining
a consistently strong pace over 58 laps, and I think we've
got a car that can do that. Hopefully, it will allow us to
be in with a chance for points at the finish."
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