Bahrain analysis: It's only race one of eighteen!

By Huw Alban
April 23 2006

It hasn't escaped my attention that the anti's have already let rip on this sites forum, but I take heart from the fact that there is a broad acceptance from most fans (even those that are sitting on the fence) that Midland F1 had a bad weekend and now need to move on and focus on Malaysia.

Let's face it - Midland F1 did put on a poor show this weekend. But like any situation, if you sit down and spend time thinking about it then the positives are there. From this fans perspective (i.e. me) free practice was disappointing, but as I pointed out at the time it's only practice. It's fair to mention that the performance of the team was better in the final free practice on Saturday, and the quotes released by the team hinted that there was more to come.

In qualifying Midland F1 were simply unlucky. Tiago had a mechanical issue, and one not previously encountered in pre-season testing, and who could have predicted the events that unfolded in the last 5 minutes of the first 15 minute session. It is my opinion that Bahrain qualifying was not a true reflection of the performance of Midland F1, and that the team stood a good chance of getting at least one of their cars into the top 16.

From qualifying the team were already on the back foot, but encountered two more new technical issues that further compounded their troubles. Christijan's problem retired him on the start grid, and Tiago's relegated him to starting from the pitlane. I've borne witness to both drivers performing loads of practice starts in pre-season testing so it's unfair to say that Midland were badly prepared for a race start, as all of the technical issues encountered were new. I'm certain that Midland F1 have tried and tested methods for taking these new issues and solving them permanently, and am in no doubt that that activity started on Saturday when the first issues were encountered.

Tiago took to the race track in the T-car which was setup for Christijan, so I'd consider it grossly unfair to judge his race performance. He did, however bring that T-car home, giving the team some true race distance data.

This moves us nicely onto the positives, so what are they?

Race engines still need to complete two race distances. Both race cars have engines that have only done free practice and qualifying mileage. Other technical issues aside, Midland will have two relatively fresh engines available for Malaysia. The majority of the rest of the field have done the complete race distance. Midland F1 already have a pretty handy advantage going into the next race.

The team now have a better picture on the performance of their competitors. Pre-season testing is notoriously bad for judging relative performance, but now Midland F1 have a better understanding of just how much development they need to do and the gap that needs to be made up.

Despite the technical difficulties the T-car did run reliably for the entire race distance and, as has already been mentioned, this has given the team some extra useful data to work from.

Every competitive race meeting is an opportunity to learn. The team have now had the experience of the new qualifying format and no doubt their behaviour towards these sessions will change as a result. It would be fair to argue that this lesson would apply across the grid, but each team will choose their solutions to qualifying based on the relative strengths of their packages.

The performance from the team did pick up in the third and final free practice suggesting that they did find some performance gains and options which can be carried forward to the next race.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and I'm sure that visitors to this site reading this will be able to think of their own. It is fair to say also that the events that unfolded for the team also carry disadvantages to carry into the next race, e.g. the T-car engine now has a race distance mileage on it - if the team are forced to use it at Malaysia then there'd be an obvious concern over reliability.

To wrap this story up I thought it worthwhile to take a quick look at what the followers of this team think about what happened at Midland F1 this weekend. Note that I've used the term followers, not fans. Visitors to this site range from people that will follow the team no matter what, to those that are watching and waiting to see just what sort of team Midland F1 is. Collectively they follow the fortunes of the team, but as you will see there is a common opinion from all of them.

"It's race 1, yes (a) pathetic showing, I didn't expect much from them but there are still 17 races to go," states Jordan fan Robert W Dalgleish on this sites forum.

"I don't see the point in constantly trying to compare the teams, Jordan is gone, history, only memories. Midland had a poor showing today, I don’t expect Midland to do that well, but I do see them doing slightly better. After all this is only race 1 of 18."

CAdani agrees, "... but it was the first race and there is a lot to improve, over a week they have new chance."

CAdani can also see the advantages of Tiago's race distance in the T-car. "... you can't judge Monteiro (on) his pace in the T-car, he did a good job bringing the car home!!"

Even though Midland F1 has only competed in one competitive race, comparison is already being drawn between Jordan Grand Prix and MF1, something that IndyAndy feels is unfair.

"Okay, lets not mince words here, that was a brutal beating that we took today - could only finish ahead of a car that made six stops!" he said on the message board yesterday. " Albers broke down - okay, these things happen.

"A few observations on this ongoing 'argument' if I may: Toyota has the biggest budget on the grid, and has for years, yet how did they fare today? Maybe it's not how much you spend but how well you spend it. Yes, I am disappointed in today's showing, but I'm willing to give a team at least ONE season to prove itself before I start drawing comparisons to a team that had 15 seasons to it's credit."

I'll wrap this up with a couple of lines from Morfeu that I wholeheartedly agree with and could easily form the basis of a war cry for Midland F1 Online for the coming week. I have it on good authority that the team are ‘gutted’ with what happened at Bahrain, and know that there are a lot of long faces today as the team travel to Sepang. Midland F1 need our support more than ever right now and need our encouragement to go out there and do the job next weekend.

"Let them be,” says Morfeu. “I’m sure they are doing almost the impossible to get the best of their cars, instead of complaining give them hope and encourage the drivers and team itself."