Three days of Formula One heaven with MF1

By Huw Alban
May 4 2006

It's nearly a week ago now, but the images, the smells, and the sounds are still clear in my head. Last week MF1O were able to watch Midland F1 test alongside their fellow competitors for three days at Silverstone.

Day one, Tuesday, and it's raining. Typical April weather here in Northamptonshire, and I have to admit that I'm one of those that enjoys Formula One in the wet. From earlier conversations with the team we already knew that Midland were not due to take to the track until the afternoon, so we went to see what everyone else was up to instead.

F1 on a wet track is spectacular! It's good in the dry, but those "roosters" of spray that a wet track and rain tyres creates just adds more to the show. Despite noseying around, we kept a close eye on the Midland garage which up until lunchtime was empty. Once the car arrived it was the scene of frantic activity. Mechanics rushed about setting the car up paying a lot of attention to the suspension components and the toeing-in angle of each wheel. Giorgio Mondini spent the entire time mooching around in his race suit just waiting for the chance to go out and get some miles in.

The M16 took to the track with a little over an hour of the afternoon session to go. Giorgio did a number of 3-5 lap runs and it was a real scramble to try and get pictures of him on the track.

Day two started dry and sunny, but high cloud soon rolled in and dominated the day. Tiago Monteiro was doing the driving honours today, and the scene in the Midland garage was considerably calmer than yesterday. In fact, I would say that the team looked very serious today as they went about their jobs. I got the briefest of acknowledgements from the few team staff that I've introduced myself to, but otherwise they didn't have time to stop and talk. I did manage to get a nod and a wink from Tiago as he was sat in the car waiting for the mechanics to finish making changes.

This change in attitude, although a little surprising, is probably symptomatic of all the bad press that has been circulating recently about the team. I learned at the straight line test a few weeks ago that the media (or anyone with photographers tabards) is now regarded with suspicion by the team. Fortunately at the straight line test I was able to talk to them about my role here at MF1O, and they visibly relaxed. Today though there was no relaxing - they had a job to do and only limited time to do it, so they concentrated on the job in hand.

The day went by without any incidents for the team, and both BigPip and I remarked how much more stable the car looks this year. The only other observation was that Tiago didn't look particularly fast. We spent quite a lot of time standing on the inside of Maggotts and Becketts (it's a particularly challenging spot to get good photographs if you ever get the chance) and had been watching the Hondas and the McLarens. Those cars looked awesomely quick through those corners with the change in direction so quick and positive. Tiago, when he appeared shortly afterwards, just seemed to be lacking something in the way that he tackled those corners. Neither of us could actually put our finger on exactly what it was, it was just an impression we got from watching other cars first.

By day three, we were pooped. There's no other way of putting it (well there is, but not here)! We took straight to the paddock and the pitlane, and observed Adrian Sutil's unfortunate introduction to Formula One motorsport. His first run was cut short by him running out of fuel, and his next was interrupted by a fuel pressure problem. He looked very dejected after he had changed out of his race suit, like a man who'd just had that golden opportunity stolen from him.

Christijan Albers took over, and was straight to business talking in very animated fashion to the team staff. I was quite looking forward to seeing Christijan today and comparing him with Tiago. Over the season so far, I've got the feeling that out of the two race drivers that Christijan is the "racer". This takes nothing away from Tiago, who is a mighty fine driver who will always get the car home but will push to the limit every lap. To my eyes Christijan is always looking for new limits on every corner and pushing like mad to move forward. These two actually make a good pairing for the team just because of those two driving styles - one to push, and one to score the finish - I can see why the team we so keen to have them for the 2006 season.

Certainly at Maggots and Becketts Christijan looked far more "racy" than Tiago did yesterday, but that's perhaps an unfair comparison because we've no idea really what was being tested and what driving behaviour was required of the driver to achieve those tests. The Dutchman did look awesome through Vale and Club, and was attacking the kirbs in a mighty fashion through the Abbey chicane. The inside of Vale is a fantastic spot to watch from. How those brakes slow those cars down in order to take the Vale hairpin is just amazing! The car rushes past you, you can feel the air disturbance as it blasts past, and then the brakes go on, the tyres rumble across the kirbs, and then there's the noise and the sweet smell of exhaust fumes as the car accelerates through the long right hander of Club. Just brilliant!

We spent the whole day just watching the team go about their test schedule. Like yesterday they were very focussed on the task in hand and judging by the team preview press release for the European Grand Prix the team were very pleased with their work over the three days.

Our thanks go to Charlotte and Chris at Midland F1 Racing for organising the media access for us last week. Thanks also to our contacts at Midland Group for allowing those arrangements to take place.

Pictures from BigPip from the three day test can be found here.

I decided to donate my best images from this test to the official Midland F1 website, as a thank you for all the times that we have been able to accompany the team this year. An index of galleries showing images of the team going about it's various test schedules in between the races can be found here.

The indexes for the 25 Apr. 2006, 26 Apr. 2006, and 27 Apr. 2006 are the ones to view. My images contain the comment "Picture by Huw Alban" which can be viewed by hovered your mouse cursor over either the thumb or the larger right hand picture.

Enjoy.

Huw Alban.