Formula One news

Bittersweet qualifying for Spyker

Qualifying at Suzuka turned out to be a bitter sweet day for the Spyker MF1 Team as problems encountered by Tiago Monteiro within the opening minutes of the first session were counteracted by another entry into the second knockout session by Christijan Albers. Issues relating to the front end of Tiago Monteiro's car ended his session very quickly causing him to not be able to improve on his single timed lap. He provisionally lines up 21st on the grid.

Christijan Albers drove strong lap in the first session to post faster times than both Red Bulls and one of the Toro Rosso cars for the second time this season. Relying on used tyres Christijan finished the session in 16th having survived the first knockout for the fifth time this season. 

 "It was very frustrating today," said Monteiro. "I have been in F1 for two years and we have never had this specific problem before. It has always been a very reliable car and unfortunately something like this happens now. That's racing and it happens. There was a problem with the front end of the car that gave me a strange feeling on track about halfway through my quick lap. I kept pushing till the end to make sure I had a reasonable time but it was effecting the car's performance. It could have been both Spykers in the top 16 today but I will just have to push hard in the race tomorrow."

Albers commented, "I think we had a fantastic day today, we took everything we could from the car to post some good lap times. My first outing was slowed a little by traffic but atleast I was able to do a quick one towards the end of the first session. We are really happy with the result today having two Red Bulls and a Toro Rosso behind us. Tomorrow will be a tough day but we have shown some good pace in qualifying."

Tema boss Colin Kolles added, "I was very happy with our performance today even though Tiago encountered some problems. I am happy to say that I think he also would have qualified in the second session had these not occurred. Perhaps a bit of luck is coming back to us now and Christijan did a fantastic job to put the car ahead of a number of our rivals. I am looking forward to the race tomorrow."

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