By Huw Alban
September 9 2006

If optimism and enthusiasm powered Midland F1 Racing then the team would be on pole every race, but today in the final free practice session the team appeared to struggle for raw pace and finished the session in 19th and 20th places.

If you happen to read the team comments yesterday, perhaps you were also sruck by just how confident the team seemed to be with their form for this race. It would be easy to put it down to PR twaddle - talking up chances that aren't really there - but yesterdays quotes were different somehow.

The third and final free practice session started quietly for MF1, which was a surprise bearing in mind that the team had already admitted that they had work to catch up on. Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers were both straight out not long after the session started, but both did one installation lap each and returned to the garage.

It was 38 minutes into the session before we saw either of them again, and it was Christijan Albers who broke the MF1 silence. Over the course of the next 3 quick laps Christijan progressively improved from a 1.27.830, 4.1 seconds off the pace, to a 1.25.230, now only 1.9 seconds off the pace at this time - a very impressive performance.

Tiago Monteiro joined him for two quick laps but could only manage a best of 1.25.707 and appeared to be struggling - or perhaps he was being regularly blocked on each lap, or on a completely differently strategy. Perhaps we'll find out when the official quotes are released after the qualifying sessions.

Christijan Albers took to the track again at the 25 minute mark, but was still struggling to better his 1.25 time. He looked quick in sector one and three, regularly posting green times, but sector two seemed to be eluding him. He managed a 1.25.149 on his second quick lap, but on his next it was again sector two where he lost time.

Tiago Monteiro joined his team mate with 17 minutes of the session remaining. Tiago's first quick lap was green all around, but a 1.25.436 was still not good enough to pull him off the bottom of the timesheet. His next lap showed an improvement in sector three, but that was all. With 13 minutes of the session remaining, both MF1 drivers occupy the bottom two slots of the timesheet.

I have to admit that a lot of lip chewing was taking place back here in Northamptonshire as I watched the Session Time Remaining clock tick down.

At the 3.48 Tiago Monteiro took to the track, followed at 3.28 by Christijan Albers. Tiago is green in sector 1, so is Christijan, Tiago green in sector 2, so is Christijan. Tiago scores a 1.24.746 and Christijan a 1.24.284 - Tiago is still last, but Christijan has hauled his M16 up to 18th. Both men stay on it and on his next lap Tiago is green all around again a 1.24.541 being his reward and 20th position. Christijan manages an improvement in sectors one and three and improves to a 1.24.186, enough to secure him 19th.

If MF1 are to break into the top 16 today then they need to find some serious turn of speed and around 1 seconds improvement in lap time. I have to admit, bearing in mind that the qualifying times are almost always quicker than the third practice ones it is looking doubtful that the team will be able to do that. All will be revealed in a few hours time.

Full timesheet from the third free practice session for the Italian Grand Prix:

1 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:21.665
2 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:22.052
3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:22.257
4 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:22.280
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:22.371
6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:22.412
7 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.682
8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:22.835
9 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.915
10 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:23.081
11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:23.244
12 Jenson Button Honda 1:23.295
13 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.334
14 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:23.467
15 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:23.536
16 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:23.599
17 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:23.659
18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:23.777
19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:24.186
20 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:24.541
21 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:24.549
22 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 1:24.717

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