By Phil Giles
June 9 2006

Midland today projected themselves firmly onto the Formula One screen with a magnificent practice session ahead of the British Grand Prix. The team have invested in new parts for the car and it's clearly made a massive improvement for this round of the world championship.

Tiago said: "I'm very pleased with our work today. The car was very well prepared and the team was really on its game. We did a really good job of focusing on our set-up programme, making adjustments while on the same set of tyres, and when we thought we had it figured out, we switched to the new ones. Well, there was such a difference in the level of grip that I made a mistake in the Abbey chicane and almost lost the car! It's a shame because that one-tenth could have put me in ninth position. Still, it's very encouraging to be so close to the pace here. Now we need to keep our cool, work hard tonight, and come out strong in qualifying tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it!"

Christijan commented: "Overall, I think we had a pretty good day. It's a shame I couldn't use the new tyre set as I wanted, but everyone did a good job and the car was quite nice to drive on this circuit. We put in some reasonable times although I have to say that I believe we could have gone even faster if we hadn't encountered a technical problem in the second session. It's nothing major, so it should be resolved in time for tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to improve on our qualifying performance."

Test driver Giorgio Mondini said: "We tried some new aero parts on the car today that seem to be working well, considering our pace. I had a spin in the first session that limited my tyre programme a bit, but we were able to get the required data and I think we're on the right path to making the correct choice. The progress we are making is very clear and everyone on the team seems very motivated. Let's hope it continues throughout the weekend!"

Colin Kolles said: "We've been quicker here in testing, but that probably has more to do with the track conditions than anything else, because everyone is slower. I think we are definitely heading in the right direction. The gap compared to last year is much, much smaller. Obviously, we'll see where we really are tomorrow in qualifying, but we are very much looking forward to it. It certainly looks promising."

Technical Director, James Key said: "Both sessions were quite satisfying for all of our drivers, I think. There were no significant issues with the cars to speak of. Giorgio had a small spin this morning, but then this was the case with a number of cars because the track condition was very difficult to start off with. All things considered, the performance level was a little better than expected today, but the important thing is tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see where we are then. All three drivers did a very solid job and we had some aero developments which seem to be working as intended. We've got some homework to do tonight on balance and tyre selection, but otherwise we're in relatively good shape."