MF1 RACING
2006 Spanish GP - Qualifying
MF1 Racing made significant improvements over yesterday's
practice times en route to qualifying in 18th and 19th positions
for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Despite not yet graduating to the later qualifying heats,
the team showed continued to show improved pace as the weekend
progressed and is now looking forward to a good result in
tomorrow's race.
Tiago Monteiro (POR), #18
(Chassis: M16-03)
Third Timed Session Classification: 19th, 1:18.747 (+3.089),
22 laps completed
Qualifying Classification: 18th, 1.17.702 (+1.886 from fastest
lap of first heat), 6 laps completed
Quote: "We had a much better day than
yesterday. I guess it just means we have to work on our Fridays,
really, because there's always either a problem on the technical
side, or the set up, or my driving, or something. My engineers
and I understand each other really well so we always end up
sorting it out, but it's frustrating because it costs us so
much preparation time. We worked hard last night to make the
necessary changes and the car was much, much better today,
very balanced and nice to drive, so all that effort paid off.
In qualifying, I made a small mistake on my first run that
cost me four or five tenths, but that's qualifying - you're
just pushing as hard as you can. Thankfully, my second run
was just a clean, perfect lap. I was pushing amazingly hard
and the car responded perfectly, so I'd really like to thank
my mechanics for that. I was only 1.9s away from the top time
in that heat, so the gap is still shrinking and I'm happy
about that, especially on a track where we tend to struggle."
Christijan Albers (NED), #19
(Chassis: M16-04)
Third Timed Session Classification: 21st, 1:19.587 (+3.929),
19 laps completed
Qualifying Classification: 19th, 1:18.024 (+2.208 from fastest
lap of first heat), 7 laps completed
Quote: "Not the greatest day for us,
to be honest. We struggled a lot and we have to look through
the data to see what's going on. From a performance point
of view, we're doing really well in the middle sector, which
is the toughest one because of all the corners, so that's
encouraging. But we're losing a lot of time in the first and
second sectors, so that's where we have a lot of work to do.
We have to find out why we're slower than Tiago and come up
with a solution for that. On my first qualifying run, I nearly
had a massive shunt because I came around a blind, uphill
corner almost flat out in fifth gear, and all of a sudden
I had Sato moving really slowly in front of me. I can't understand
what he was doing, because he was on his 'in' lap and should
have been more aware of what was going on. My emotions got
the better of me at that moment, and maybe I reacted in a
way that wasn't so nice, but that still doesn't excuse his
actions. Everyone knows this is not a place where you lift
(off the throttle)."
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "The
team worked very hard to improve from yesterday and the drivers
did a good job to get the most out of the package, so in that
sense I'm reasonably happy. On the other hand, I also think
we would be in the later qualifying stages by now if everyone
was using the same engine formula, and by this, of course,
I'm referring to the V10s. We lost a lot of time to them in
the first sector because of their straight-line speed, so
it's obvious the equivalency formula is not working. I hope
this issue is resolved before Monaco."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer:
"On the surface, it seems like another normal qualifying
for us, but in truth we are moving closer to our target of
moving into the later sessions. We think we have a strong
race package, so we're fairly optimistic about our chances
tomorrow."
|
