Tiago explains MF1 performance worries at Valencia

By Huw Alban
February 15 2006

Yesterday my heart sank when I saw the final timesheet from Valencia, and the team press release did little to brighten my day. Is if in answer, Tiago Monteiro spoke to Sportmotores.com and gave us some answers as to why the team are where they are.

It’s already on record here at MF1O that I was hoping for an improvement in the M16’s position over all it’s competitors. Yesterday Tiago recorded the slowest time out of the race drivers present at the test, and I’ll be honest, my faith slipped a little.

According to both the team and now Tiago, it’s not all doom and gloom, despite the lowly times. It appears the team have been steadily working on car balance and tyre developments which means that they cannot go for an all out "glory laps" like the others.

"It was a good day, we drive a lot, 86 laps, testing two new evolutions," he was quoted as saying to Sportmotores.com yesterday (a big thank you to forum contributor Bioweird for the translation). "We’re learning a lot with the new car which is very motivating for me and the team. The car keeps going better and better, every time more balanced, but we didn’t do a real qualification test. In the afternoon we were testing different tyres and it wasn’t possible to drive low fuel, in order to do a fast lap."

It appears that I’m not the only one hoping for better times this week. In answer to his adoring Portuguese fans, Tiago went on to explain why Mark Webber put in such a scorching time yesterday.

"I drove more than a race distance today, 343 km always going in the right direction of car development, so I’m really pleased with the work we did today… we’re always very close to other teams, but in the end Webber put in a fast lap and showed off!!!"

I liked Tiago from the moment I met him last year in a freezing Silverstone pit lane, and now I like him even more. Faith restored Mr Monteiro – thank you.