Formula One news

Midland happy with double finish

MF1 Racing overcame the reliability and handling problems it encountered throughout the weekend to claim a respectable two-car finish at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Despite starting from the back of the grid and persevering with throttle issues that developed toward the closing stages, Christijan Albers battled with his rivals throughout the race and crossed the finish line in 13th position. Tiago Monteiro brought home his M16 in 14th position. 

"This has been another tough weekend for me," said Monteiro. "Christijan and I were on different tyres, which we knew could be a risk, and it ended up being the wrong choice, unfortunately. That was the main issue for me in the race. I'd get two or three good laps out of each new set, and then the performance would just fall away. The balance was quite decent, actually; it was just a general lack of grip. But that's the way it goes some weekends - you gamble and take your chances. But the boys did a good job to give me a well-balanced car that brought me to the finish, so they deserve credit for that. This was definitely not a great track for us, because it requires hard braking and acceleration, which is a weak point for us at this time. Tracks like Hungary should be a lot better for our car, so I'm looking forward to that."

Albers commented, "I think we had a reasonably good race result. We were competitive against Toro Rosso, and it was nice to fight with Speed. Sometimes he would close the door on me and I had to lift to avoid an accident, but when I passed him I was quite happy because it's nice to see that we've gained some ground against them - it's nice to be in competition. It's just a shame that about nine or ten laps from the end I began to lose power. So we have to analyse this problem and make sure it doesn't happen again, because it cost us a position."

Team boss Colin Kolles added, "This was a reasonable result, considering all the problems we had this weekend. Our race pace was quite good and we were able to fight with the teams ahead. But we have to keep pushing as hard as we can to take the next step."

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