Formula One news
Difficult debut for Spyker MF1 Racing
10 September 2006 / Results / PhotosThe newly renamed Spyker MF1 Racing team endured a difficult afternoon of racing at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Christijan Albers was climbing up through the field before a punctured rear right tyre and transmission problem dropped him to the back of the pack. He nursed his car home in 17th position. Tiago Monteiro was forced to abandon the chase after 44 laps due to brake issues.
"Obviously, that's not the result we were after but I must say, the car was going quite well," said Albers. "In fact, once the tyres warmed up and we were able to burn off some fuel, I was catching up to the group ahead of me, so that really motivated me. The only weakness, I would say, was that we were losing ground on the straights, and this is something we will have to work hard to improve. Unfortunately, after my first pit stop, I developed a serious brake problem that would crop up randomly. It was causing the car to behave quite erratically, which is dangerous at a high-speed circuit like Monza. There were a couple of other issues that compounded my problems, and eventually I just had to retire because the car was becoming too unstable. But I'm encouraged by the fact that we were catching the cars ahead before these problems occurred, which proves that we are improving. At this time, I'd also like to thank Mr. Shnaider for all his support, and for giving me the opportunity to get my start in F1. I'd also like to welcome our new owners, and look forward to making more progress under the Spyker banner."
Albers commented, "We finished the race but it 's not a good result, and that's a shame because it was our first one with the Spyker name. First I had a flat tyre, which pretty much killed my race, and then two laps later, I developed a problem with my transmission. We know what the problem is, though, so hopefully we'll be able to solve it once and for all. It's disappointing because the pace was there and I was able to compete for positions, which is similar to the situation at the last race in Turkey, where our performance was quite good. One thing I know for sure is that we'll come back fighting in China."
Team boss Colin Kolles added, "I think the performance of the cars was very good. Christijan's puncture ruined his chances for a good result, and Tiago had some brake problems that prevented him from finishing. But if you look at their times, they were quite competitive. Considering this is supposed to be the worst circuit for us, that's quite encouraging."
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