Tiago Monteiro and Jeffrey van Hooydonk continued MF1 Racing’s test programme today in Jerez, making steady progress and completing 25 and 80 laps respectively. Van Hooydonk spent part of the day familiarising himself with the EJ15B car and tested control systems as well as collecting aerodynamic data. He set an encouraging time of 1:21.61. Monteiro, who was driving the interim EJ15B V8, had a difficult day as he lost a considerable amount of time during the day with some car problems. Testing will continue tomorrow with Christian Albers and Tiago Monteiro.
Tiago Monteiro said: "It was a difficult day for me today but I guess this is what winter tests are for. We had several different problems which prevented us from doing the work we wanted. Unfortunately I was unable to complete as many laps as we had planned. Today was also the first time I have tried the Toyota V8 and obviously there is a big difference. We have a lot of work to do as this changes the balance and the electronics of the car as well as the driving style. Tomorrow I am going to drive both the
V8 and V10 cars so it will be interesting to compare them. Although we had a lot of problems, the team has done a great job fixing the car as quickly as possible and I thank them for that."
Jeffrey van Hooydonk commented: "I am really happy with the way the day went today. It was a tough day as this morning it took a long time for the tyres to warm up because of the cold temperature of the track. Then my programme was constantly interrupted by red flags, which made it harder to keep up the pace as I was sometimes sitting stationary in the car for a long time. I was not feeling very comfortable in the car because normally when you do a seat fitting you need time to get used to it. Now I am used to it but unfortunately the day is over. However, I am very satisfied with my first test and now I know exactly what it is all about and I hope in the future I will have another opportunity."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race & Test Engineer, added: "For the second day of the test here Tiago got his first taste of the V8 car and we continued with our test programme. We had one or two issues that delayed us for a while and there were a lot of red flags with so many cars on the track today. However that is what testing is about though and we have collected more data to work on tonight. Jeffrey did a good job today covering 80 laps in his first major F1 test, and working well with the engineers and the team. We completed some control systems testing and aerodynamic data collection as well as proving some development components. It is always interesting to work with different drivers and we have developed a programme that allows the driver and the team to get a lot of valuable information out of these test days."
Unofficial times
J. van Hooydonk MF1 Racing 1:21.61
T. Monteiro MF1 Racing 1:24.34
MF1 Racing also confirmed today that 2005 Champ Car and F3000 Italia driver Fabrizio del Monte will conduct a one-day test for the team on 10 December at Jerez, Spain. Del Monte began racing go-karts in Italy at the age of 13. His professional motorsport career includes a test in 2003 with the Minardi F1 team and several podium finishes in both the European and Italian Formula Renault Series. He also finished 2nd in the 2003 and 2004 Superfund Euro F3000 championships, with three race wins and six podiums out of 10 starts in 2004. He completed three races in F3000 Italia and two races in the Champ Car Series in 2005.
- Annouck Heinrichs at the Midland F1 -
photos Sutton Images
