2006 Malaysian GP Race Report
Sunday March 19, 2006
MF1 Racing made an encouraging return to form in Sepang on
Sunday.
Both cars took the chequered flag - in 12th and 13th positions,
respectively - and displayed the reliability that had been
the team's hallmark in 2005.
The team returns to action at Melbourne's Albert Park street
circuit for the Australian Grand Prix on April 2nd.
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "I'm
pleased that we were able to overcome our reliability issues,
which was a positive sign. Our pace was not so bad either,
compared to where we were last year. What's more, we were
actually getting faster toward the end of the race, so we're
continuing to make improvements all the time. We still have
a lot to learn about this young car, and there is a lot of
room to explore its potential."
Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director: "It
was satisfying to have our first double-finish of the year
after the problems we had in Bahrain. We were forced to make
manual starts with both cars, which compromised our eventual
finish quite heavily. As a result of that, we got stuck behind
some slower cars off the lights, but after that, we had pretty
good pace for the rest of the race. Both our guys drove brilliant
races. The pit stops, the cars and everything else ran fine
for the rest of the race. We just have to work on the reliability
issues that we had with the driveshafts and get our starts
back to normal. We know what we have to do and we should have
some new parts for Melbourne."
Christijan Albers (NED), #19
Chassis: M16-02
Starting Position: 15th
Classification / Laps Completed: 12th / 56 (2 laps down)
Quote: "We had bad luck with the start, because both
Tiago and I ended up being held up for a few laps. Afterward,
we got caught up in traffic, so that limited what we were
able to do for the rest of the race. That part was unfortunate,
but it was nice to finally run a full race without problems.
My crew did a great job, and I think we can have an even better
result in Australia in two weeks."
Tiago Monteiro (POR), #18
Chassis: M16-03
Starting Position: 16th
Classification / Laps Completed: 13th / 56 (2 laps down)
Quote: "It was kind of a tough race for me. I got stuck
behind a couple of slower cars at the beginning, so I think
my engineers made a good decision to bring me in early. I
really felt I had the pace to get by them, but it was difficult
because I was losing ground on the straight sections. I was
also disappointed not to be able to put in any quick laps
on my fresh tyres because of all the traffic, but that's the
way it goes, I guess. We pitted early a second time, which
was another good decision, and was able to put in some good
laps during that stint. But my race position was pretty much
set by that point. I can't say I'm very excited to finish
13th, but in any case, I'd like to congratulate the team on
a job well done: the pit stops were quick and clean, and we
had good reliability."
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