Formula One news

Midland upbeat with Friday form

Midland's Tiago Monteiro, Christijan Albers and Giorgio Mondini finished Friday practice 16th, 11th and 21st respectively. 

"I'd have to say it was a pretty productive day from my point of view, and I think we're going in the right direction," said Monteiro. "We didn't look out of place all day, and I think we'll be even better as the weekend progresses. I was blocked on my last lap of the afternoon on new tyres, so we couldn't get a proper reference time. But considering the split times, it would have been a pretty nice lap, so that gives us a good measure of confidence heading into tomorrow."

Albers commented, "I don't know how realistic the times were today, because in practice, you can never be sure what the other teams are doing. We just ran through our normal Friday programme and we'll see where we stand tomorrow. But at least everything is working well: the engine feels strong and there were no mechanical issues to speak of. So, in that respect, it was OK, but we still have a lot of work to do. We have some set-up issues to sort out, and the car is still quite difficult to drive. But, as usual, we will find a way to improve from today to tomorrow, so I'm not overly concerned."

Team boss Colin Kolles concluded, "It was a normal day's work for us. We had some problems with Giorgio's car, but nothing too serious. Monza is not an ideal circuit for our car, to be honest - we could use a bit more top speed - but all of the drivers did a solid job, and we are in a good position to prepare for qualifying."

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