2006 Monaco GP - Race Report
Midland F1 Racing overcame a calamitous start to the Monaco
Grand Prix to claim its third two-car finish of the season.
An unfortunate start line incident saw Christijan Albers
lightly collide with teammate Tiago Monteiro and push him
into the barriers, damaging Monteiro's front wing and forcing
him into an early, unscheduled pit stop. Albers was assessed
a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident and also
lost valuable track positions.
Despite these handicaps, both drivers drove aggressive races
and displayed impressive pace, making the most of their opponents'
retirements and penalties. Albers claimed an impressive 12th-place
finish, while Monteiro brought home his M16 in 15th position,
despite being held up by slower cars for much of the race.
The team now returns home to prepare for the British Grand
Prix, across the road from the factory at Silverstone Circuit,
in two weeks' time.
Tiago Monteiro (POR), Car #18 (Chassis: M16-03)
Starting Position: 17th
Classification: 15th, 76 laps completed (+2 laps)
Fastest Lap: 1:17.329 at 15:40:49, 13th overall (+2.186 from
fastest lap of the race)
Quote: "A very frustrating weekend,
to be sure. We had the pace to be competitive this weekend,
which was great - a big, big improvement over last year. We
were among the 10th and 15th fastest cars all weekend but
got hit by bad luck during a tricky qualifying session, which
wasn't completely unexpected. Unfortunately, we had that unnecessary
incident at the start, and I lost a lot of time on the ensuing
pit stop. I had to make up about 30 seconds and get past the
Super Aguris, so my race was effectively shot right there.
I spent a long time behind Montagny, waiting for him to make
a mistake, because it's very difficult to pass here. But once
I got by him, I had a clear track and was able to push hard
and put in some good times. I was very happy with the car
all weekend, and I have to thank my team of engineers and
mechanics for that. Things didn't turn out as well as we would
have liked but on the positive side we were quick, so that's
a good sign for the future."
Christijan Albers (NED), Car #19 (Chassis: M16-02)
Starting Position: 16th
Classification: 12th, 77 laps completed (+1 lap)
Fastest Lap: 1:17.603 at 15:47:53, 16th overall (+2.460 from
fastest lap of the race)
Quote: "I think we had really strong
pace today, especially before the pit stop. At one point,
we were almost the quickest ones on the track. It was just
a shame to get a drive-through penalty. I have no clue why,
to be honest, because from my point of view, my front wing
was ahead and I had position. But everyone has their own opinion
of that, so we'll leave that alone for now. I have to say
I'm quite happy with our result today because my car struggled
quite badly at the beginning of the weekend and ended up being
very good. You can't really complain about a 12th-place finish
with a drive-through penalty, so I'm really happy and would
like to thank my mechanics and engineers for the good job
they were able to do to."
James Key, Technical Director: "A busy
and eventful afternoon, to say the least. Both drivers had
extremely good pace during the race. Obviously, the situation
at the beginning really messed up the afternoon because it
resulted in Tiago losing a lot of time with a nose change
and Christijan got a drive-through penalty. That was really
unfortunate because they were both on the pace. In fact, they
were quicker than the cars ahead of them and caught them up
very quickly afterward. So that was a real shame because everything
else today was quite positive. The cars were reliable, the
Bridgestone tyres were very good and the performance was encouraging.
It's just a shame that wasn't reflected in the final result."
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