By Huw Alban
April 22 2006

Midland F1 made maximum use of their track time today at Imola with both drivers working together on track. Steady progress was made throughout the session, with Christijan keeping his promise and going faster today!

Both Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro were out early to complete their installation laps, and 10 minutes into the session both were out again posting lap times. They ran for a good 10 minutes before pitting, with Tiago on a fastest lap of 1.28.415 placing him 9th. By the time Christijan returned to the garage 9th had become 13th, but the Dutchman had managed a solid 10th fastest time.

30 minutes in and both are out again. Their first flying laps are unremarkable, but the 2nd promotes Tiago to 14th on a 1.27.852 and Christijan's 2nd flyer pinches Tiago's 14th with a 1.27.512. Both men were struggling to post green sector times throughout this run, and it was no surprise to see them both pit again with 23 minutes of the session remaining.

15 minutes to go, and both Midland's are out again. Monteiro's first flyer is a stormer! 11th for the Portuguese driver on 1.26.476 - that's faster than Christijan yesterday in second free practice. Albers meanwhile is again struggling to better his sector times and he pits very quickly. Interestingly Monteiro pits the very next lap, although Nico Rosberg has stopped in sector one causing yellow flags so that's probably a blessing.

5 and a half minutes to go, and Christijan is back out again. Sector one is green, so is two, and so is three - a 1.25.803 enough now for 15th! Tiago meanwhile has been pushed down to 18th and is not on track. Albers' next lap sees yellow sectors all round and no improvement in time, but other competitors are improving demoting him 16th.

Full time sheet from the third free practice session for the San Marino Grand Prix:

Pos Driver Team Laps Time

1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.787
2 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:24.068
3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:24.377
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:24.383
5 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.626
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:24.667
7 Jenson Button Honda 1:24.850
8 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:24.916
9 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:24.984
10 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:24.994
11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:25.041
12 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:25.205
13 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:25.575
14 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:25.662
15 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:25.701
16 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:25.803
17 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:25.806
18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:26.476
19 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:27.019
20 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.267
21 Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.330
22 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes