Monaco: 2nd practice commentary

By Huw Alban
May 25 2006

Third driver Giorgio Mondini, and regular driver Tiago Monteiro shone for Midland F1 today in the second free practice session in Monaco. Giorgio put in a belter of a lap 32 minutes into the session, and then bettered it on his next run. Tiago scorched to 12th place, only 1.5 seconds off the pace.

Making the most track time was clearly demonstrated by Midland F1 at the start of the second free practice session, with all three drivers immediately taking to the track at the start of the session.

In the first 10 minutes, Giorgio Mondini had completed 7 laps and recorded an 8th fastest lap time of 1.20.630, Tiago Monteiro was sitting in 10th on a 1.20.907 after 8 laps, and Christijan Albers had pitted after 6 laps after recording a best of 1.22.513.

45 minutes into the session and Giorgio Mondini is still circulating, but Tiago Monteiro has pitted. A red flag is thrown 43 minutes and 48 seconds in, but bizarrely the session turns green after only 60 seconds or so! On the timing screens everyone looks to have pitted OK with no one left out on the track, so I queried with the team what on earth was going on?

The reply was immediate. A bollard had come loose and was obstructing the track; an embarrasing and very dangerous incident. This season is certainly showing up some wierd and wonderful reasons for red flagging sessions.

Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro were quickly back out, followed a lap later by Giorgio Mondini. Monteiro immediately improved to a 1.20.208, but Albers still seems to be struggling at the bottom of the timesheets.

37 minutes and 3 seconds in and another red flag is thrown. Everyone appears to pit OK again, and again about 60 seconds later the session restarts. Our 'eye in the sky' at Monaco (well, in the garage anyway) informed us that Anthony Davidson on his last flying lap had set a blinder of a time but taken the last corner way too hot and sheared off the left front wheel from his Honda.

32 minutes and 42 seconds in the session is red flagged again. Fortunately Midland F1 were not on track and not affected. This time it was for Robert Kubica who had spun into the armco barrier at Rascasse.

After another short delay the clock starts again, and this time Giorgio Mondini takes to the track, followed shortly by Tiago Monteiro. Mondini on his first flying lap of this run shoots up the order to 3rd fastest on a stunning 1.17.643, way faster than the two race drivers currently! He pits a lap later leaving Monteiro to circulate alone, with Albers still in the garage.

23 minutes to go and Christijan Albers joins his team mate on the track, and he has a lot of work to do as he is currently second from the bottom of the timesheet. On the same lap Tiago pits, and our sources inform us that the Dutchman has been experiencing brake issues that the team have been working to fix. They must have done good as Christijan's first lap is a dramatic improvement to 18th out of the 28 drivers on a 1.18.430. His next laps are a lot slower suggesting that he has gotten the best out of this set of tyres.

With 16 minutes to go Christijan pits, but Giorgio and Tiago take to the track. Giorgio's first flyer out is an improvement to 1.17.497, enough for 10th at this point in the session. His next lap though is very slow. Despite posting green sector times, Tiago is way down the order in 26th place some 3 and a half seconds off the pace.

With 8 and a half minutes to go. Giorgio Mondini is in a solid 12th, Christijan Albers 23rd and out on track, and Tiago Monteiro 27th. A quick question to the team revealed nothing about why the race driver pairing were so much slower than their development driver counterpart.

Out of nowhere, with approximately 5 minutes of the session remaining, Tiago Monteiro jumps to 12th on a 1.17.439, just ahead of the team's 3rd driver who has now been pushed down the order to 14th. Christijan Albers meanwhile is still on track but unable to improve on 24th.

The session finished with all three Midland F1 drivers on track but with none of them improving on their times. Just like after the first session, I'm going to draw the same conclusions. More progress has been made dialling the M16 into this track, and the team are showing more and more promise for both the qualifying and the race.

Full timesheets from the second free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix:

1 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:15.907
2 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:16.075
3 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.138
4 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:16.221
5 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:16.292
6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.707
7 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:16.721
8 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:16.870
9 Jenson Button Honda 1:16.903
10 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.251
11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:17.325
12 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:17.439
13 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:17.456
14 Giorgio Mondini MF1-Toyota 1:17.497
15 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:17.603
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:17.638
17 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:17.744
18 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:17.793
19 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:17.845
20 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:17.874
21 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:18.123
22 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:18.257
23 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:18.420
24 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:18.430
25 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:18.731
26 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:19.273
27 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:19.445
28 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:19.803

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