Winkelhock claims the third seat at Bahrain

By Huw Alban
March 1 2006

Yesterday at Silverstone, Giorgio Mondini and Markus Winkelhock assisted in putting in a few miles in the new M16 chassis. Today Markus has been announced as third driver for the team in Bahrain, and Tiago Monteiro has summed up the last pre-season test for the team.

According to the MF1 press office, both Markus and Giorgio finished off their pre-season programmes yesterday in preparation for their Friday Grand Prix duties for the team.

Today as come the announcement that Markus will assume those duties for the first race of the season.

"MF1 Racing is pleased to confirm that Markus Winkelhock will be the team's third driver at the opening round of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir," read the press release today. "The 25-year-old German, who finished third in the Formula Renault World Series last season, demonstrated his considerable abilities while testing for the team during the winter."

"Giorgio Mondini will take over testing and reserve duties at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. The Swiss driver, also 25, was the Formula Renault V6 Champion in 2004 and has shown similarly impressive potential in an F1 car during recent testing."

In talking about the test at Silverstone yesterday, Tiago Monteiro was understandably entertained by the snow flakes that fell during the afternoon. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to do much hard running today, as it was freezing cold and actually snowed quite a bit! But we did manage to shake down the new car, test out the new gearbox and practice some pit stops and refueling, so it was a pretty useful test. "

The team appeared to be very pleased with the work completed, despite the balmy weather, and Tiago agrees. "As usual, the mechanical components and team members performed flawlessly. Now, everyone is excited and getting ready for the first race in two weeks. Personally, I can say that I'm really looking forward to being in a warm, dry climate again!"