By Huw Alban
April 2 2006

Tiago Monteiro was enjoying a reasonably strong race today at Melbourne Park until he suddenly pulled off the racing line and parked his M16 in the team garage. It appears that a hydraulic problem knocked out his gearbox and ruined his day. "At the start of the race, I was stuck behind Yuji Ide so with the team we decided to change the strategy," Monteiro revealed via his press agency. "When the first safety car came out, I completed my first pit stop on lap 8. I also refuelled during the third safety car period which came after Michael Schumacher crashed. We did very well to exploit the safety car periods to make our pit stops. The car was well balanced and performing well and I was having a great race climbing up to twelfth position by the time Liuzzi crashed and caused the fourth safety car period.

"My lap times were good compared to our rivals and better than my team mates, Monteiro added. We could have finished in the top ten today but unfortunately it was not to be.

"The hydraulic problem is frustrating, but I understand that that's how racing goes sometimes. I'm just happy that at least the car was performing well in the race, and that's what motivates me for the next one. During our next test in Silverstone in two weeks we need to understand why the failure happened and how to prevent it from happening again. I am off tonight to Singapore before flying back to Portugal."