By Huw Alban
April 3 2006

Christijan Albers finished the Australian GP in a hard fought 11th place. Unfortunately he was the only MF1 finisher, with his team mate knocked out by a hydraulic issue. A post race decision by the stewards has promoted Christijan up one place however, giving the team their first top 10 finish! Red Bull's David Coulthard and Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed were called before the stewards after the Australian Grand Prix, as Coulthard had claimed that Speed had passed him under yellow flags during the race. The stewards, after reviewing race footage, agreed with the Scot and added 25 seconds to Speed's race time demoting him to 11th place. Speed was also fined another US$5000 for using abusive language during the stewards hearing, and it is widely reported that the bulk of the abuse was directed at Coulthard.

This penalty has also had the affect of promoting Christijan Albers up to 10th place. Unfortunately there is no comment as yet from Albers over this change in fortune, but no doubt both he and the team are very pleased. We at MF1O certainly are!