Midland F1 need to impress at Bahrain ?

By Huw Alban
March 9 2006

This is it! The time for all that pre-season pep-talk is over. Now we get to see whether all that confidence translates into a competitive performance on the race track. How MF1 will do is anyone’s guess, but here is MF1Os view.

It's actually quite hard to know where to start with this preview. In the cold light of day we've actually got little to go on. This is a brand new team, with a brand new car, and with the huge rule changes this year to draw comparisons with 2005 would be pretty unfair.

Let's have a look at the advantages and disadvantages that Midand F1 Racing carry into the first race of the season. This by no means an exhaustive list, but just the highlights that jump out to me.

Advantages:
1. The driver team now has at least 1 years experience, and both have driven at Bahrain before.
2. Tiago Monteiro is in his second year with the staff that make up this team. The relationships are all there - they know how to work with him and him with them.
3. The reliability of the M16 package in pre-season testing has been exceptional - in fact one of the best on the grid.
4. Despite constant heckling from the press, and less than sparkling pre-season test lap times, the team are still talking confidently about their chances this weekend. A brave face or certain knowledge that the performance is definately there?
5. Tyre supplier Bridgestone now have the advantage of three top 10 contender teams to help in the development of their rubber.
6. This group of people can put together a front of the grid race car, as proved in 1999. All the talent is there, and for the first time in two years this group have been able to design and build a new car rather than adapt an old one.
7. Big rule changes always throw a curved ball into the start of the season. At Bahrain, the playing field is a little more level than it will be later on in the season. In this environment Midland have a great opportunity to shine.

Disadvantages:
1. The Toyota V8 is a brand new engine. Desite being reliable in testing, how will it really compare to the competition, and will it stand up to the temperatures and throttle characteristics of Bahrain?
2. Still on the subject of engines is the question of STRs so called restricted V10... ?
3. Are the addition of Williams and Toyota enough to push Bridgestone tyre development to match that of Michelin?
4. The pre-season lap times and the mileage completed have been less than stunning in comparison to the competition. Are the team really ready to take to the competitive race track?
5. New rules always take time to adjust to. Will Midland F1 be one of the first teams to seize these rules and make them work to their advantage ?
6. The driver team will be one of the most inexperienced on the 2006 grid.
7. The T-car will be built in the garage at Bahrain, and won’t have turned a single shakedown wheel before this weekend. If either driver suffers a major problem or accident then it’s fair to say that there must be doubts over the preparation of the spare car.

I guess the biggest question so far for all Midland fans is, is the car going to be fast? Almost as if in answer to that question has appeared a short interview with James Key on the official Midland F1 website. James is asked about the likelihood of new development parts for the M16 at Bahrain. “There are some new parts which are coming out, and we’ve gone down to the wire on them, because some of them are performance related,” answered the teams technical director. “We’re not going to see any massive jumps compared to testing, but there will be a reasonable step with the new parts we’ve got.”

On the subject of being ready for this race, James plays heavily on the reliability of the M16 in testing and admits that there is still work to do. James also reveals that Ferrari’s time at the Bahrain circuit a few weeks ago will have assisted all the Bridgestone shod teams, as the tyre supplier has been open about the data gained. “In many respects, I feel confident, because the cars have run and they’ve been reliable,” James says on MidlandF1.com .

“We are confident about cooling and that sort of thing, which is always a bit of an issue in Bahrain and Malaysia. But then equally, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. From lap time analysis, we know we’ve made up ground on the others. But we’re still playing catch up, and there’s more work to do for sure at the moment.

“Bridgestone have been very open with the information sharing within the teams, so we’ve got feedback on what Ferrari have done in Bahrain. The compound choices and constructions have largely been confirmed by the testing out there on a hotter track.”

Ex-Jaguar team boss Niki Lauda has a more sober assessment of Bridgestone, it’s rubber, and it’s development programme. "At least their development should now move faster, with Toyota and Williams there to help," he was quoted as saying to Austrian TV station ORF by F1-Live.com .

"But on long runs, for the moment it looks like they are five to eight tenths (per lap) away from the Michelin cars, at least in the cold of winter testing. If I am right, it is looking very good for the Michelin cars for the first two or three races."

On paper then, if you believe the pre-season hype, the team should do well and it’s fair to say that all teams will have their own respective lists of advantages and disadvantages going into this weekend. I’ve been saying all year that there is a quiet confidence about this team and it’s new car, and right on the 11th hour the team are still talking confidently about their chances.

I have two wishes:

1. That the team are as confident leaving Bahrain as they were going in, and
2. That the performance of the team, its cars, and its drivers blows the critics away.

MF1O wishes the team, Tiago, Christijan, and Markus all the best of good fortune this weekend. This sites forum is full of goodwill messages for the team, so much so that if Midland F1 was powered by “fan power” alone then they’d already be on pole and have won the race. Give us a good one boys!