Japan: Saturday Qualifying Report

By Spyker M F1 Media
October 9 2006

Qualifying at Suzuka turned out to be a bitter-sweet day for Spyker MF1 Toyota 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 M16 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 an excellent 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.

Tiago Monteiro
"It was very frustrating today. 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."

Christijan Albers
"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 at least 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."

Colin Kolles, Team Principal
"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."

Dominic Harlow, Head of Race and Test Engineering
"A mixed qualifying session today with terrible luck for Tiago incurring a car problem early in Q1 meaning he could not complete a competitive time on new tyres. Christijan faired better finding his way into Q2 with another excellent lap. We took a more tactical approach to Q2 and expect a strong race tomorrow. The car has been well balanced in the dry and both drivers are confident that our Bridgestone tyres will offer us good race performance tomorrow."