Malaysia: Midland Qualifying Report

By Phil Giles
March 18 2006

Reliability is the buzzword running through the Midland Garage for this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix. With other big name teams taking engine replacement penalties tomorrow, Midland will start from 15th and 16th places on the grid.

One Toyota engine has already blown apart this weekend, with Ralf Schumacher's V8 going pop during the second session of qualifying.

Tiago had been suffering with a bad back after yesterdays practice sessions.  The team physiotherapist had a go at his back overnight and whilst he's still suffering, he was able to climb into the car and set a time.

"We still have little bit of work to do to fight our way further up the grid, but we knew from the start that we would be at a disadvantage on a high-downforce circuit like this, where aerodynamics play such a key role." he said.  "There will be at least five cars behind us on the starting grid because of engine changes, and I'm looking forward to mixing it up with them for as long as I can. Hopefully, our reliability issues have been solved and we can be there at the end. After all, just finishing the race here is half the battle."

Christijan suggests that tomorrows race is going to be an exercise in data collection, although he has praised the team for being as close as they are.

"I really have to give credit to the team, because in spite of our qualifying positions today, they really did a great job." he said.  "Everyone is working very hard to squeeze more and more performance out of the car, and the gains are coming, slowly but surely. Maybe not as fast as the big manufacturer teams but then again, Formula 1 has probably never been so competitive. A little rain tomorrow wouldn't hurt, either, because we know we have good 'wet' and 'extreme wet' tyres. That would be a great equaliser, from our point of view. Now we have to focus on running the best race we can, and I'm really looking forward to collecting as much data as possible to help us prepare for Australia and the rest of the season."

Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director commented: "It's been a difficult weekend so far, dealing with a new engine formula, and being the second weekend of the first two-race cycle has been challenging for a lot of teams. We've had a few mechanical problems, which we're trying our hardest to get under control but then again, we're not alone in that regard and we'll be quite happy starting 15th and 16th on the grid tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken. We still have a lot of hard work to do, but if we can give our drivers two cars that can get to the flag, they'll have a good afternoon's race in front of them. We've just got to keep our heads down, improve the car, improve our reliability, and see where we end up."