By Huw Alban
February 21 2006

Midland F1 Racing made a bid for the front today at the first day of testing at Barcelona. Despite a rain interrupted day, the team still managed some useful mileage, and those performance gains promised by James Key are starting to be seen. Having been away from an internet connection all day, my first task was to log in and check the times from Barcelona. A massive beaming grin broke across my face when I saw T. Monteiro – MF1 Toyota M16 - 1'18"717 (+1"018) !

I also noted that fans have been following the day from the web based live timing facilities provided by Barcelona as well as several web cameras. There is a staggering 130 posts at the time of writing on a thread entitled “Barcelona testing” posted by fans following the action at the circuit.

Keen observers have noted that the M16 is now sporting little winglets on either side of the airbox, as well as an extended engine cover. There are no doubt a whole host of other little modifications that are too subtle for us to spot, but whatever the team have done it has resulted in a sharp upturn in performance.

According to the team press release this evening, the M16 was put through some race simulation work in order to check reliability gains and further test control systems.

Tiago Monteiro was very pleased with the days work, and with the gains being made with the M16. “We had some really promising runs with the car this morning, which was encouraging, as I believe we ended up just over one second behind the quickest time of the day,” he was quoted as saying in the team press release.

“We were preparing to begin practicing race simulations in the afternoon but unfortunately, it started to rain heavily on the out lap and we held off for a while, but finally called it a day when the rain showed no sign of letting up. In the end, we did about 60 laps - which is very close to a race distance - without any problems. The car's reliability is excellent and our pace is improving, so I am very pleased with the day's performance.”

“Despite the rain the day went very well, technically,” Tiago said to sportmotores.com (thanks to forum contributor bioweird for the translation). “There’s still a long way to go, but I’m happy with my time just a second off the best. It’s always a good indicator.

The technical programme for the day wasn’t completely achieved because of the rain, but we didn’t stand still and worked on other solutions. At the end of the day we were able to make 16 straight laps with the wet track.”

Tiago will start the days running in the morning before handing over to Christijan Albers for the afternoon. It would appear that despite late optimism last week that the team still has only one M16 chassis to play with at the moment.

Full list of times from Barcelona today

1. M. Webber - Williams Cosworth FW28 - 1'17"699 (+0"000) - 45 laps
2. K. Raikkonen - McLaren Mercedes MP4/21 - 1'17"790 (+0"091) - 59 laps
3. R. Doornbos - Red Bull Cosworth RB2 - 1'18"439 (+0"740) - 46 laps
4. T. Monteiro – MF1 Toyota M16 - 1'18"717 (+1"018) - 59 laps
5. J.P. Montoya - McLaren Mercedes MP4/21 - 1'18"875 (+1"176) - 22 laps
6. T. Sato - Super Aguri Honda SA05 - 1'30"244 (+12"545) - 8 laps
7. N. Rosberg - Williams Cosworth FW28 - 1'37"188 (+19"489) - 16 laps