By Phil Giles
May 10 2006

The second race weekend in two weeks sees Midland racing off to the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya. The European Grand Prix gave the team a strong finish and they are hoping to build on that success to bring home another demonstration of reliability and pace.

Barcelona plays host to a number of tests during the off season and the team are very familiar with the high speed circuit.  Both of the teams race drivers enjoy the circuit and for the Portuguese Tiago Monteiro it's as much as his home Grand Prix as Estoril would be.

Tiago said: “We had a good weekend in terms of pace at the Nürburgring and I would love it if we could be same or better in Barcelona, but I think it will be tricky. All the teams do a lot of testing there and are very familiar with the track and the set-ups it requires. You won’t see too many of the top teams’ cars going out for Friday practice, as they already have an extensive amount of data, but we will have to make the most of every opportunity we get, so expect to see us out there quite a bit. It’s a good, challenging track – fun to drive, really – and it will be more physical than ever, with the higher G forces the cars are now capable of pulling. I’m looking forward to this weekend, and bringing home another good result.”

Christijan said: “I’m looking forward to Barcelona, because it’s a track I know quite well and we had a good series of tests there over the winter. Granted, it’s going to be bit different under race conditions and the warmer temperatures will affect tyre choice, but I don’t see that as being a disadvantage for us. The team is coming off a strong weekend at the Nürburgring and I’m hoping we can match the pace we had there in practice and qualifying. I had a bit of bad luck in that race, in that I got held up by slower traffic at various points, but overall, I still think it was a step forward for us. If we can continue to make progress the way we have been lately, we should be in good shape to reach our goals before the end of the season.”

Giorgio Mondini will be taking over from Adrian Sutil for this Friday's test: “Now that I have had two Fridays to become more confident with the team and the car, I am really looking forward to this weekend, knowing that the car is constantly improving. The team is putting a great effort into raising the level of the M16’s performance and that has inspired me to make a similar commitment. I have been training hard over the past few weeks in order to be able to get the most out of the car. I will be driving at the next three Friday practices in a row, as well as one full day of testing in England, so I need to be in top physical and mental condition. It’s always exciting to be heading into a race weekend, particularly when the people surrounding you are as motivated and hungry for success as MF1 is. Barcelona is a beautiful track, but frankly speaking, when you’re behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, all the tracks are beautiful!"

Dominic Harlow: “Barcelona is a circuit where we all test frequently, and as such, we will have a good baseline from which to start our weekend. In aero set-up terms, it will be very similar to the Nürburgring. The track is not particularly hard on brakes and rewards engine power in a similar manner to a lot of other circuits – basically, a tenth a lap for every 10bhp. Despite the one-week turnaround following the European GP, the factory has worked extremely hard to supply some updates for this event, specifically, a couple of changes to the front suspension geometry and a new damper specification. Our aim, as always, is to improve on the last event and do our best to avoid early elimination from the qualifying session. We will also be concentrating on race tyre choice for the conditions that present themselves.”

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