German GP: Midland F1 Online site preview

By Huw Alban
July 27 2006

The next two races of the 2006 World Championship are back to back with the first in Germany this weekend. The team appears to be very bouyant after a product test at Jerez last week.

Now I've frequently said here on this site that testing is one thing and racing is another (and don't Honda just prove that one), but I have to admit that some of this confidence has rubbed off on me this week.

Up until Silverstone Midland F1 had been unable to break into the top 16 and since that weekend the team have been able to do it quite regularly. If ever I wanted a measure of the team's development progress then I've found it in their qualifying performance. In addition, at the British Grand Prix the team used up all their fresh tyres getting Tiago into the top 16, but since then that hasn't been a necessary tactic to squeeze the performance out of the M16.

Today, the team have released a question and answer session with Christijan Albers, a driver known for being tough on his team members. In that Q&A Christijan reveales that he of all people is pleased with the progress the team are making in developing the M16 chassis. "I have to say I'm quite happy with the way we are working," the Dutchman said on the official team website."We do a good job for the amount of testing we do. We work really hard and we're making progress all the time."

In that same interview, Christijan throws off any concerns on the team not scoring any World Championship points this season. "It's not frustrating, because we know we're not at the level of the top teams yet. But as I said, I'm satisfied with the progress we've made with the car so far. We're getting better every day, despite the fact we're not testing very much. For the amount of testing we do, the performance we get out of the car is excellent."

I don't about other fans, but I really want to see Midland F1 score a point or two this season. I don't really care how they do it, whether it be sheer luck or hard driving, I just want to see something more than a 0 on the Constructors Championship table against Midland F1 Racing.

One thing I am a little worried about this weekend, and I know that I'm going to get teased and taunted about it, is just how that new Super Aguri chassis will go. I've read a lot of stuff this week spouting on about how their new car was built in a hurry etc etc, but as an ex-Arrows F1 Team fan I know what a handy chassis those boys at Leafield can put together. Add that to the technical expertise at Honda, and in my book you've got a collection of ingredients worth worrying about. What do other fans think?

This weekend I am really hoping to see another step forward by the team resulting in yet another strong qualifying show, something that they've been able to do before. The next trick is to transform this into a strong result in the race too...

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