Johnny admits that Albers & Monteiro are driving

Oops
By Huw Alban
January 19 2006

Since this site launched in November last year, one of the main topics of conversation has been about the future of Tiago Monteiro and whether he will have a drive with the new Midland team. According to Johnny Herbert and Crash.net, Monteiro is already there.

Monteiro fans have been screaming for the team to make an announcement, and I myself have been speculating that the magic words from the team are being held up by some kind of sponsorship or other contractual issue. The reasons for this are that the team have already admitted to us that when the name of the second driver is announced the reasons for the delay will be obvious.

Crash.net caught up with Johnny Herbert recently and secured a quote from the popular Englishman suggesting that Monteiro's position with Midland is a secure.

"Tiago's consistency was his main thing, and that is very very important in racing, as it's where you get your points," Herbert has been quoted as saying to the motorsport news site, "He did a great job at Spa to be able to keep out of trouble and get into position to get that last point for eighth place. Christijan joins the team from Minardi, and I think he's a hard charger, but a hard worker as well, and that will make it better for the team, and make the team stronger in general."

Read into that what you will, but to me it suggests strongly that Monteiro never left the team's driver camp and Albers was coming in to join it ! Crash.net certainly seem to think so as well !

We've queried this with our sources at Midland, as it appears to us that Johnny may have inadvertently and unintentionally confirmed Tiago's presence with the team for the 2006 season. We'll let you know what response we get.