By DCA - Rute Vieira
July 2 2006

Exactly three months after his first non-finish of the season, Tiago Monteiro again suffered the painful experience of not making it to the finish of today’s US Grand Prix.

This was a huge disappointment for the man who stood on the podium here last year, and who yesterday enjoyed his best qualifying position of the season in his Midland M16.

"What a difference a year makes! As I was watching the 2006 podium, about to leave the track, I was really disappointed. I had made such a good start ahead of my team-mate Christijan Albers, and I was feeling really good. Then suddenly there was a big mechanical storm ahead of me on the track. Pieces of cars were flying everywhere. I couldn’t see anything. All I knew was that there had been a huge problem on the track and that soon the pace-car would be out. Luckily, I saw a piece of grass ahead of me and cut through and escaped the scene and was able to get safely back on to the track. To be honest, it was a really good deal for me and I was very lucky to escape unscathed.

"After the six laps behind the safety car, in ninth position, the race finally restarted. I was feeling confident. The car was behaving well. I had good grip. I was not making any plans. Just taking the pace constantly and suddenly… Takuma Sato reserved for me one of his special unrealistic moves. He suddenly locked his wheels like a kamikaze going into Turn 1 on lap seven. He braked very late, and my car suffered extensive sidepod damage. Imagine how disappointed I am. I was expecting his excuses, but nothing came. So I went to him and we had a discussion. I told him my point of view. Nevertheless, it was a waste of time. My dream to finish Indianapolis a second time was over. Frankly, with an excellent weekend behind us up until that point, we did not deserve this end to the race."

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