2006 Season
The name of the team was changed to MF1 Racing for the 2006 Formula One season. In the UK a joke emerged regarding this short form being written in the same way as economy furniture manufacturer MFI. Over the winter Russian driver Roman Rusinov tested a new car, the Midland M16 with a new livery (red, white and black to reflect Midland Group's corporate colours) and Toyota engines. MotoGP motorcyclist Max Biaggi also had a test in the car at Silverstone in January. Italian racing car constructor Dallara had originally been contracted to develop the M16, however the agreement was discontinued during the design process after a disappointing contribution from the Italian manufacturer. The senior management subsequently placed its faith in the incumbent design team, promoting former head of vehicle science James Key to the role of technical director towards the end of the 2005 season.
Shnaider had been insistent that Midland intended to field Formula One's first Russian driver - although Russian drivers had tested in the past, mainly for the Minardi team, none had ever raced in a Grand Prix - but instead signed Dutchman Christijan Albers from Minardi, and retained Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro. The team had previously failed in a bid to sign Takuma Sato.
During the team's very short time in F1, they used three drivers on the Fridays of Grands Prix:
- Markus Winkelhock at Sakhir, Melbourne, Hockenheim and Hungaroring
- Giorgio Mondini at Sepang, Imola, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Silverstone, Montreal, Indianapolis, Istanbul and Monza
- Adrian Sutil at Nürburgring and Magny-Cours
During the last three races, as Spyker MF1 Racing, the team used the following test drivers:
- Alexandre Prémat at Shanghai
- Adrian Sutil at Suzuka
- E. J. Viso at Interlagos
As the 2006 season went on, the team went from running ahead of Super Aguri but behind everyone else, to consistently sparring with other midfield teams such as Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso although it only ever finished ahead of crippled cars, Super Aguri and the occasional Toro Rosso. Much of that progress was down to tyre development from Bridgestone coupled with significant improvements in aerodynamics and handling (overseen by Simon Phillips and Richard Frith respectively). The improved performance saw the team begin to make it into the second qualifying session on an occasional basis - eight times out of a possible 36 overall - with a best qualifying position of 14th.
Unfortunately this increased mid-season performance did not translate into hard results as the team were involved in a number of first-lap accidents, notably at Monaco, Indianapolis and Montreal, and the team was disqualified from the German Grand Prix for running a flexible wing in contravention of the sport's technical regulations.
The team went from being around four seconds off the pace per lap in 2005 to around 2 seconds per lap at the time of its sale to Spyker cars in September 2006.
Read more about this topic: Midland F1 Racing
Famous quotes containing the word season:
“When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was still steadily raining, and harder than before; and, in that fresh, cool atmosphere, the hylodes were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake universally, as in the spring with us. It was as if the season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at the abode of perpetual spring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)