By Huw Alban
March 17 2006

According to F1-Racing.net, Tiago Monterio suffered with a back problem during Friday free practice in Malaysia. According to the popular Portuguese driver he is still pain despite receiving treatment. This has to raise questions as to whether he can participate in the 3rd free practice and beyond. Tiago only put in eight laps during the second free practice session due to a fuel system problem, so his time is not exactly representative of either his or the cars performance.

"I had to stop just after we put fresh tyres on. My back was blocked," explained Monteiro to F1-Racing.net. "A nerve pinched. It was hurting terribly. So I did not take advantage of the new set of tyres. The physio, Alex, treated me about one hour after the session. But it still hurts."

Tiago continued: "On Thursday I jogged around a few laps of the track in the hot conditions. It brought back good memories of last year when I finished 12th after a very tough race. I'm confident we have some good pace in the car and despite the reliability problem today. Overall it was a good first day and its all looking positive for the rest of the weekend."

We’ll bring you more on this if we hear it.