Recent wet and overcast conditions at the Interlagos circuit cleared today for a warm and sunny Saturday track programme. Spyker MF1 Team failed to match the brighter outlook as they experienced a problematic qualifying session.
Having enjoyed some promising performance so far this weekend Tiago Monteiro was expecting a strong grid position. Unfortunately he spun early in qualifying resulting in his car becoming stranded for the remainder of the session. This incident means he will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from 22nd on the grid.
Christijan Albers had more success and was again able to out-qualify one of the Red Bull cars. Although struggling for grip he ended the first session in 18th position. With some recent encouraging race performance the Dutch driver, who will be driving for Spyker F1 in 2007, is looking forward to ending the season on a high.
The Brazilian Grand Prix marks the final race in the team's engine supply partnership with Toyota Motorsport. In what has been an extremely positive partnership for two seasons the team has enjoyed fantastic reliability and a very efficient relationship. 2006 has seen Tiago Monteiro use fewer engines than any other driver in the Formula One World Championship. The Spyker MF1 Team wishes all at Toyota Motorsport the very best of luck for the future.
Tiago Monteiro: "The day didn't start very well with a two thousand dollar fine for crossing the pit lane exit. When I got out of the car the President of Spyker, Victor Muller told me that if I made it to the second session that he would cover it! Unfortunately I made one of the most stupid mistakes of my F1 career, obviously I was pushing hard as it was qualifying but I hit the curb on high speed corner 7 and spun the car causing it to stall. Its really frustrating as Christijan was only 3 tenths off P16 so I think we could have made it."
Christijan Albers: "I think we did the maximum we could do today, but it could have been better. We were good on the first run, but on the second, quicker lap we could have been even stronger but we lost a lot of grip in the final three corners. It was a bit of shame because the combination of the tyres and other issues meant we could have been much higher up the grid. I think we are still competitive against our rivals so we will see what happens in the race."
Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "Today was an interesting day for everybody in the team. Tiago made a very uncharacteristic mistake and Christijan looked like he made the best out of a difficult lap. We will see what happens during the race tomorrow but the world will be watching what looks set to be a thrilling finale to the World Championship, I hope that we can find a positive performance to take us into what will be a busy and important winter break."
Dominic Harlow, Head of Race and Test Engineering: "It was a disappointing final qualifying session, we needed to be very close but came out at the wrong end of our rival group. Spyker MF1 is a team very much looking to the future at the moment, tomorrow is a long race and anything could happen. Both drivers have worked out a good strategy considering our position in qualifying and we look to see what transpires at the front of the field and with the weather conditions."
To check out our Brazil qualifying gallery, click here
