By Huw Alban
June 23 2006

The big story for me this weekend will be whether we hear anything about the Dutch offer made for the team in Monaco. I'm hoping that the answer will be no, and that the answer is given early in the weekend so that we can concentrate on the racing.

On the surface the indications are that the answer will be no. The team are generally going about their normal business and outwardly there are no signs that work is being reined back. In addition, there was an admittance from the team that Alex has guests at the Grand Prix this weekend and I cannot imagine for one second that he's going to invite people to hear him announce that he's going to accept the offer.

Enough of that, let's get back to the racing.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a classic mix of long fast corners, long straights and heavy braking areas. Already in interviews and press releases the team have been describing the difficulties of setting a car up to perform well at this circuit.

Today (Friday) I don't expect the team to be particularly quick. The circuit will be very 'green' and the team will be using Giorgio Mondini as much as possible to get the tyre choice work completed. The team have been working on developments, and a couple of them made a brief appearance at Silverstone just the other week including a new rear brake cooling duct. This is also a race of high attrition, although this year reliability throughout the grid has been remarkably good. In past seasons this race has been a good hunting ground for the smaller teams to grab points simply by finishing the race. Tiago Monteiro is a master at nursing the car home, and in a race where brakes will be key it'll be interesting to see how he manages the car.

Generally the team have been coming together, and it was encouraging to see the team do well at the British Grand Prix especially when they were expecting to struggle. They've now had the experience of getting a car into second qualifying, and that is sure to benefit them this weekend. My money is on Christijan to make it into the top 16 with Tiago just missing out. I'm taking nothing away from either driver as in my opinion it would be a good combination for the team - let Christijan go out and challenge hard for places, and leave Tiago to do what he does best; bring the car home in one piece.

With everything that is going on surrounding Midland we're in for an interesting weekend.

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