Silverstone day three: Frustration for Albers

By Huw Alban
May 1 2006

On Thursday MF1O spent its last day with the Midland F1 team at Silverstone observing what the team were up to. It was quite a surprise to see Adrian Sutil in the car in the morning, and unfortunately it was the start of a frustrating day.

BigPip is hard at work compiling a report on the three day test, so I'll be brief so as not to steal his thunder. Adrian only managed a few laps, with a fuel shortage and a fuel pressure problem ending his short morning. To be honest he looked quite miffed at the opportunity that had been taken away.

Christijan Albers took over, but a large number of red flags caused a large number of interruptions that really appeared to irritate the Dutchman. Towards the end of the day the M16 was struck with a large technical problem and the team had to cut short their afternoon. It was obvious that Christijan was not impressed or happy, but he still stopped to sign autographs for the many fans that had seen him go into the team lorry - top show Christijan!

My thanks go to the team again for arranging photographer access for me and Phil for the three days. My pictures have been given to the team as a thank you and have been used on the official Midland F1 website which is great to see. Phil's many pictures from the test can be viewed here.

Team press release from day three:

MF1 Racing concluded its three-day test at Silverstone under cloudy skies, with Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers sharing driving duties.

Satisfied with results obtained from the programme, the team heads to Germany next week for Round 5 of the World Championship: the European GP at the Nurburgring.

Weather Conditions: Dry and Overcast, Max. air temp. 16C / Max. track temp 19C Drivers: Adrian Sutil / Christijan Albers Chassis: M16-04 Engine: Toyota RVX06 G0114 Fastest Laps: Sutil: 1:25.40 / Albers: 1:20.987 Number of Laps: Sutil: 10 / Albers: 43 (53 combined) Distance: Sutil: 51 / Albers: 221 (271 combined)

Christijan Albers: "I was a little frustrated with all the track time I lost today due to all the red flags and a mechanical issue we had, but overall I feel quite positive about the tyre test. I think we've found quite a good tyre for this circuit and we made some progress with other areas of the car. Now, I'm looking forward to the upcoming race at Nurburgring, a track I know quite well from my DTM and F3 days."

Adrian Sutil: "It was good to be back in the car again, but I just wish it could have been for more time. No matter, it's always good to work with the team, and I can't wait to do my first Friday drive at the next race."

Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "The final day of the test here was interrupted by quite a few red flags, making it difficult to get into a meaningful testing rhythm until later in the day.

"We ran a brief 50km shakedown for Adrian Sutil in preparation for his Friday driving duties in Nurburgring, and Christijan took over the remaining driving duties working on tyre selection and some setup testing. Unfortunately, his afternoon was curtailed by a transmission problem and we lost a bit of track time as a result.

"But all in all, the three days have been useful and the April showers have stayed away. We are continuing to understand and improve our car and it was especially useful this week to give many of our engineers from the factory the opportunity to see the car in operation and get involved first hand in making improvements at the track."