2006 German Grand Prix - Final Practice & Qualifying
MF1 Racing continued to struggle at the Hockenheimring on
Saturday, with both cars failing to match the promising pace
they had demonstrated in recent races.
The team's string of Q2 performances finally came to an end,
with Christijan Albers managing only the 18th-fastest time
of the first session and teammate Tiago Monteiro taking 20th
position.
Tiago Monteiro (POR), #18 (Chassis: M16-03)
Third Timed Practice Session: 18th, 1:17.793 (+2.165), 23
laps completed
Qualifying: 20th, 1:17.836 (+3.766 from Pole Position lap),
6 laps completed
Quote: "This was the second time in
as many qualifying sessions that Mr. Coulthard, who's been
around long enough to know better, blocked me on my flying
lap. He did it to me in qualifying at Magny-Cours, he did
it to Christijan in practice yesterday and he did it to me
again today. It's unbelievable, because he's the first one
to moan about it in the driver briefings when he thinks someone's
done it to him, and yet he thinks he can do it to everyone
else. Obviously, this time we're going to complain to the
stewards about it, because it's just too much. It's a shame,
because I think I could have had a decent run, based on the
speed I had on my first aborted lap, when Speed shunted. But
unfortunately, we couldn't do it because of Mr. Coulthard.
Looking ahead, I still think we'll be OK in the race because
we've made the right tyre choice. So with a good strategy
and some luck, we might be able to salvage something this
weekend."
Christijan Albers (NED), #19 (Chassis: M16-02)
Third Timed Practice Session: 21st, 1:19.254 (+3.626), 15
laps completed
Qualifying: 18th, 1:17.093 (+3.023 from Pole Position lap),
5 laps completed
Quote: "We are pushing to turn around
what has been a terrible weekend for us so far. We had bad
luck on Friday morning with our engine p roblem. Then, of
course, the rain in the afternoon limited us to a few laps
and basically wasted the second session for everyone. This
morning, we had electronic problems, so it's been one thing
after another. But looking at the positive side, I can see
this qualifying effort as a victory, because I think I did
a pretty good time on the set of tyres I had, compared to
my teammate and the strategy he was running. In that sense,
I think my engineers and mechanics did a good job. Now, we'll
do our best to run a smart, consistent race tomorrow and see
what happens."
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "It's been a difficult
weekend for us from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we
just haven't been as competitive at this track as we have
been at other circuits. We are struggling to get the temperature
into the tyres, so we will have to look into the cause of
this problem. But the fact remains that Tiago couldn't putt
his qualifying lap together because Coulthard blocked him,
and that likely cost him a grid position. We will see what
the stewards have to say about this."
James Key, Technical Director: "Unfortunately,
we didn't get through to the second qualifying session, as
we had at the last two races. It's disappointing, but then
the entire weekend hasn't really gone our way so far. The
red flag during the first session compromised everyone, but
it certainly affected our drivers, because they were only
able to get in one flying lap each. Tiago had traffic on his,
which meant he didn't get the times in the second and third
sectors that he wanted. Christijan just put a time in to see
where we were, really, because obviously with the engine change,
he's going to be at the back of the grid, anyway. He did fine,
considering how we were running him. I think it's going to
be an interesting race tomorrow."
Johnny Herbert, Sporting Relations Manager:
"Not our best performance, obviously. But we've got a
good tyre for the race, which is important for us in terms
of running consistently and enabling us to finish the weekend
with a more positive outlook for Hungary."
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