By Huw Alban
August 26 2006

I have to admit that I didn't have my hopes up too much for the qualifying session, and fully expected MidlandF1 to be at the top end of the last 6. Christijan Albers gave me something to grin about, making it into the top 16 - shame about that engine penalty!

Tiago Monteiro was the first man out on the track at the start of the first session, and we all enjoyed a good chunk of TV coverage as the local director followed the first driver to set a time.

That time was 1.30.255 which, according to the UK TV commentators, is not such a sparkling time. Christijan Albers was about a lap behind his team mate and sets a slightly better time of 1.29.544. Tiago stayed out for a second lap but failed to improve on his time.

With 3 minutes to go both men take to the track again. Tiago improves to a 1.29.901 which was only good enough for 20th by the end of the session. Christijan shaves off half a second to improve to 1.29.021 placing him 16th at the end of the session. Damn that engine failure!

We then enjoyed a glimpse into the Midland garage and the pit to car radio system with Christijan asking whether he made it through. The team replied that he was P16, and Albers replied, chuckling, that he simply didn't know.

I fully expected Christijan to only put in one lap towards the end of the session and settle for P16, but no he was out early on in the session posting a 1.29.387 which is actually slower than his first session time. With 2 minutes to go, having dropped to P15 Christijan take to the track again! He needs to make up 1.5 seconds to threaten the top 10 and if any Midland F1 driver can do it then it's him.

It's a 33.0 for sector 1, a 31.2 for sector 2, and a 24.3 in sector 3; all green indicating that they are the best sector times of the session for him, but a total lap time of 1.28.639 is not enough. You have to admire the bloke for trying though - an awsome effort!

Full timesheet from the Qualifying sessions for the Turkish Grand Prix:

1 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
3 Fernando Alonso Renault
4 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
5 Ralf Schumacher Toyota
6 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW
7 Jenson Button Honda
8 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
9 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW
10 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth
11 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari
12 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes
13 Jarno Trulli Toyota
14 Rubens Barrichello Honda
15 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth
16 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota
17 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari
18 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth
19 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth
20 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota
21 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda
22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda

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