Bahrain: One Home for Midland

By Phil Giles
March 12 2006

The current Formula One World Champion, Fernando Alonso started where he left off in 2005 with a win at the first Grand Prix of the year in Bahrain.

Midland, however were less fortunate when a mechanical problem meant that Christijan Albers was the first to retire, barely leaving his grid slot before being wheeled into the garage, the team looking closely at the rear of the car.

Technical gremlins crept in prior to the cars leaving the garage for the parade lap.  Tiago Monteiro started the race in the spare car, from the pit lane after an issue with the cars hydraulic system.

So, not the best of starts from the team and with only a week to the next race, what else can we expect from them for Malaysia.  The positives however are that the team are not too far away from the Toyota works team with their times.  They will have gained a lot of data from Tiago's efforts and again, Tiago has successfully finished a Grand Prix.  20 starts and 19 finishes improves his record and race experience.

With one race down and 17 left to go, there's plenty of time for the team to improve.  Additional development and investment over the next few months will see the team pull further away from Super Aguri and closer to Toyota and Torro Rosso.

We'll post quotes from the team as soon as they become available.