Formula One news

Suzuka fright for Spyker

The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix brought to an end what had been a promising weekend for the Spyker MF1 Team. After a great qualifying session and early speed in the race Christijan Albers succumbed to an unfortunate mechanical failure on lap 20. Tiago Monteiro and his engineers selected a strong race strategy by running long in the first stint but tyre and balance issues meant that he was not able to continue showing the competitive potential of the car until the end. Tiago brought the car home in 16th to seal the team's weekend at Suzuka.

"Overall I think we had a decent race, the first stint was very good considering we were carrying a lot of fuel," said Monteiro. "I was able to fight with the Toro Rosso and Red Bull cars after passing Sato and Yamamoto very quickly. I followed the rhythm of the people in front very closely, knowing I had more fuel onboard. We were the last to stop but during the second stint we had some tyre issues which made the car difficult to drive. The times dropped off and although we were good towards the end of the race we need to analyse what caused this. We brought the car home which is always good and it's nice to be back finishing races again."

Albers commented, "After the start we had some problems but we still managed to be competitive with the Red Bull cars. They were holding me up a little in the corners but then their top speed meant they were able to pull away on the straights. I think it was a shame for all the guys as we worked hard this weekend. The team will investigate what happened to cause my retirement and we will see what we can achieve in Brazil."

Team boss Colin Kolles added, "We had high hopes for this race as once again we looked competitive with our rivals throughout the weekend. Christijan was unlucky to suffer his mechanical failure as he looked as though he had out-run his rivals approaching the first stop. Tiago drove well to finish the race as I know he had balance and tyre issues. We now head for home before looking forward to finishing our season on a high in Brazil."

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