By Huw Alban
July 1 2006

It would have been easy to write yesterdays free practice times off as a flash in the pan for Midland F1 Racing, but today in the third and final free practice hour the team gave the fans something to really shout about with both drivers bettering the team's best Friday times.

Yesterday, during Friday free practice the world of Midland F1 was good. We had two drivers in the top 10 at the end of the second free practice session, and if it wasn't for traffic then I think we could have had all three. I had a quick conversation with our source in the team garage late yesterday evening - the team were very very happy, but mindful of the work that they'd need to do to pull off a repeat performance during the Saturday qualifying sessions. I was reminded that the team have been quick in the Friday practices in the past, and it is an unfortunate fact that Midland F1 have struggled to keep up as the pace gets hotter and hotter throughout the Saturday sessions.

At the start of the third free practice session, Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers were promptly out to complete their trouble free installation laps.

It wasn't until 40 minutes of the session was remaining that Midland F1 took to the track again with Christijan Albers. A minute later he was joined by team mate Tiago Monteiro. The current pace has been set by Kimi Raikkonen on a 1.13.436 - that's slower than Tiago Monteiro's 7th best time yesterday of 1:13.387.

Albers' first lap time is a 1.15.161 compared to Monteiro's 1.16.735. Christijan is unable to improve on his second flying lap, but Tiago manages to improve to 1.15.439. The Portuguese driver manages another improvement on lap 3 to 1.15.230, and then pits followed closely by his team mate.

Michael Schumacher meantime has lowered the benchmark time to a 1.12.100 - over a full second faster than Midland F1 were able to manage yesterday. Christijan Albers currently holds the best time of the two, but a time that is 3.061 slower than Michael Schumacher's best.

With 26 minutes of the session to go, Christijan Albers takes to the track again. His first flying lap sees no improvement, but then on lap 2 he manages a 1.14.988. Tiago Monteiro has also come out and again does not improve on his first lap. Lap 2 however sees an improvement to 1.15.039, and then again to 1.14.934.

Felipe Massa has lowered the pace time to a worrying 1.11.039, and that is the best part of 2 and a half seconds faster than Midland F1's best this weekend so far.

12.15 to go and Christijan Albers is back out again, followed quickly by Tiago Monteiro. This could be their last run of the session this morning and their last chance to shine for the fans. Over the course of two timed laps each neither driver improved their time, although Christijan did manage a sector 2 personal best on his second flying lap.

With 2 minutes and 24 seconds to go Christijan leaves the garage, followed 22 seconds later by Tiago. This time there's no messing. They've got time for one quick lap each...

... and they don't let us down either. Christijan Albers puts is a 1.13.172 and is faster than his team mate went yesterday!

It get's better though as Tiago screams across the line to smash his own best time of the weekend on a 1.12.913!

An awesome performance from the Midland F1 team and it's drivers. I cannot wait to see what happens during the qualifying sessions which get under way in a little under two hours time. Rock on!

Full timesheet from the third free practice session for the United States Grand Prix:

1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:10.760
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:11.039
3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:11.940
4 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:12.049
5 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:12.149
6 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:12.202
7 Jenson Button Honda 1:12.269
8 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:12.327
9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.569
10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.592
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:12.675
12 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:12.904
13 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:12.913
14 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:13.091
15 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:13.101
16 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:13.103
17 15 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:13.113
18 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:13.172
19 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:13.230
20 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:13.364
21 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.806
22 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:14.454

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