MF1 Racing
| Season: | 2006 | | | | Address: | Midland f1 Racing Limited
Dadford Road
Silverstone
Northamptonshire
NN12 8TJ
United Kingdom | | | | Country: | Great-Britain | | | | Constructor: | MF1 | | |
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It had already been announced in 2005 that the
Jordan Grand Prix team would be known as Midland, or MF1 Racing, from 2006 onwards. In fact Midland had already been running the team in 2005.
So looking at 2005 you couldn't really expect much from the 'new' team in 2006.
Tiago Monteiro had been retained, while Cristijan Albers
? brought valuable sponsorship money from
Minardi.
The season was hardly spectacular for the team. Monteiro and Albers were left dragging their cars round, with team owner Alex Schnaider already rumoured to be bored of F1 and looking for a way out. In fact as early as Monaco it was reported that a consortium led by
Eddie Irvine could take over the team.
Any takeovers never materialised, but hung over the team for most of the season. Two embarrasing collisions between the two drivers seemed to be ignored; the cars were too far back for anyone to pay much attention. But at Hockenheim, a deal finally came through, with Dutch car manufacturers Spyker buying out the team. Colin Kolles remained as a senior figure, taking the same position in the team's third guise.
The presence of Spyker confirmed Albers' place for 2007, but to be honest it had never been in doubt. The Dutchman had outperformed his Portuguese team-mate all season. Come December Tiago's place still hasn't been confirmed. Only a shedload of cash could keep Monteiro in the seat for 2007.
Should Monteiro fail to make the cut, Spyker have plenty of choices. Youngsters such as
Adrian Sutil,
Giorgio Mondini,
Ernesto Viso, and
Alexandre Premat all tested for the team over the course of 2006.
Statistics
| Statistic | # | Percentage | First | Last |
| Number of Grand Prix | 36 | 100% | 2006 | 2006 |
| Number of starts | 36 | 100.00% | 2006 | 2006 |
| Number of finishes | 21 | 58.33% | 2006 | 2006 |
| Number of retirements | 15 | 41.67% | 2006 | 2006 |