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Linksheaven 2006 F1 Preview: MidlandF1

February 28th, 2006

1st annual linksheaven.com

formula 1 preview - 2006

Midland F1

Team

Midland F1 Team

Nationality

Russia / Great Britain

Engine

Toyota V-8

Tires

Bridgestone

Team Principal

Dr. Colin Kolles

Team Website

www.midlandf1.com

Sponsors

JVC, Garcia Jeanswear, Lost Boys, MAN

2005 Results

Driver’s	16th
Constructors	9th

Drivers

Driver

Christijan Albers

Nationality

Dutch

2005 Results

19th

Website

www.christijan.com

Driver

Tiago Monteiro

Nationality

Portugal

2005 Results

16th

Website

www.tiagoracing.com

test

Driver

Markus Winkelhock

Nationality

Germany

2005 Results

Website

None

2006 Outlook

For those of you not in the know, last year’s horrible season suffered through by the Jordan team, was in fact a full on Midland effort, but things came together so late in the game, that they essentially suffered through the year with old equipment and slightly newer stuff that had next to no effort put into it. The budget situation was a mess, people quitting and reorganization happening, it honestly was one of the worst done team buyouts and transitions in recent memory, so for those that do know of Midland, this would be one of those situations to not judge a book by it’s cover. Last season really was Jordan’s unfortunate end, and this season brings in the new era of Midland.
On the chassis side, most people will notice little more than the fact that the car is now silver and red, instead of yellow, but both on the surface and underneath the M16 is a completely different animal. The mostly new technical staff has had a good go at coming up with something much better at doing just about everything, and the balance of the car in terms of grip and downforce at least so far in testing has seemed to improve quite a lot. The car has had a fair bit of testing too, which is a step up from last season, when the car intended for the year made a far too late entry. No one is expecting this car to win or even consistently contend for podiums, but it well could finally be a piece of equipment capable of scoring some points and compete with the large group of mid and lower midfielders shaping up for the coming year.
On the engine side of things, they are getting the all new 2.4 Liter V8 Toyota RVX-06 and at or near the level of development that the factory Toyota team will have, and so far, that should be a strong and stable piece for them with good power and so far stable reliability. With both Midland and Toyota putting kilometers on it, it has a very good chance to be something special for them. Last season Midland used the Jordan name to settle them in F1. They used Karthikeyan and Monteiro. Monteiro looked like your typical last minute substandard rentadriver hired to fill a seat, and Karthikeyan looked like a marketing exercise to get the world’s 2nd most populated country interested in buying merchandise, sorry I meant interested in F1. To both of their credit, they surpassed most people’s expectations. Karthikeyan was fast, exciting, brave and looked like he had a future in the sport. Monteiro although not quite as blisteringly fast at the start, was getting to the finish line, not getting in the way (in what was a dog), and generally acquitting himself admirably. Karthikeyan edged the qualifying battle 10-9 but lost the finishes 12-7 and the WDC battle 7pts to 5.
This season Monteiro (fresh from setting rookie reliability records) keeps his seat and Narain is a tester for Williams (onwards and upwards!). The Dutchman and ex-Minardi driver Christijan Albers fill the 2nd Midland seat. I really like Albers and followed him in DTM. I was delighted to see Paul Stoddard take a risk with him in F1 and he duly obliged by comfortable outpacing Patrick Friesacher and Robert Doornbos in his debut season. I expect to see Albers get the better of Monteiro this season but I admit I could be biased and I in no way expect Tiago to be a pushover. I hope he can continue his remarkable record if finishing GP’s and if he can add more speed to this he could pick up invaluable points finishes much like last season’s astonishing 8th place in Belgium.
Jordan are now gone and any trace of loud drunk Irishmen in the pits is now sadly gone with them. 
Honestly after last season, the best thing for this team is to build some stability and make some progress, and they seem to have all the pieces in place to do that or more.

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Entry Filed under: Formula 1, Linksheaven

1 Comment Add your own

1. Alipio Jones | March 30th, 2006 at 12:16 pm

Tiago we are with you all the way …we wanna see you shinning here in Australia…Go for it…hit road and give your best shot at it..Go Rapido

Al jones Sydney Australia

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Linksheaven 2006 F1 Preview: MidlandF1

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