By Huw Alban
April 23 2006

A mixed bag I feel this weekend, although I did have to smile when I read about Scott Speed getting a penalty which had the affect of bettering Christijan’s final race position. As for Tiago; what a great shame it was to see the M16 being pushed back into the team garage.

The biggest question within the confines of MF1O on Sunday was "how on earth did Super Aguri get out in front at the start?"

Before the race the teams practice pace had been encouraging, with flashes of real speed showing throughout each of the three sessions. Again, the team got caught out by an interrupted first qualifying session and this is something that they really need to work on in future races. I've no doubt that they did their best, but with the pace shown in free practice I still feel that a top 16 place was possible on Saturday.

Then comes race day, and we line up 18th and 20th but in front of both Super Aguri's. In the post race comments the team admitted that both drivers performed normal starts but by the end of lap one Takuma Sato is 13th and Ide has got the jump on Monteiro and Albers!

I was staring at the f1.com timing screen in disbelief wondering what on earth had gone wrong. On the UK TV coverage both M16s appeared to make good starts and there was certainly no repeat of the Malaysian start where both cars seemed to stand still whilst the rest of the grid streamed away.

Then came the turn two incident that saw Felipe Massa pitched into the wall. I've watched this incident a few times now and to my eyes both the Midland boys were taking it cautious at turn two. Whether this was due to the accident unfolding in front of them or a consequence of their tyres I really don't know, but as the camera pans from right to left to follow Massa both the Midland cars appear to be slowing whilst the two Super Aguri's have kept their foot in.

Then came the more minor incident between Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard which saw Coulthard run wide and Trulli stall his engine facing the wrong way on the track.

It is these two incidents, I believe, that in combination assisted in getting the SA06 of Takuma Sato up through the order. In fairness to the Super Aguri team, what have they got to lose by keeping their foot down and making the best of any opportunity even is there is a risk to the car? Whilst everyone else around is reacting more cautiously they can benefit big time from such a strategy and it certainly worked out all right for Sato.

This is just my view, based on what I can see from the TV footage that I've got, and I admit that it could be a total load of cobblers. One thing is true though; that SA06 is a damn quick car in a straight line and damn hard to overtake. Both Albers and Monteiro managed to clear Ide, but once Albers had cruised up behind Coulthard in 15th place he stayed in the queue behind Sato.

Unfortunately Albers' pit stop didn't help at all and it took what has been described to us as a 'gutsy' move to overtake the Japanese driver on lap 28 in order to get past. By the time we get to the fourth and final safety car Tiago is running 13th, Christijan 14th and Sato a way behind in 15th, but unfortunately it was not to be. As the pack squabbled over positions at the restart Tiago could be seen peeling off and allowing the pack to stream away. It was heart-wrenching to see, as I feel that both drivers had driven hard and fast making the best that they could of a crazy race. Still on the up side Tiago brought the car in undamaged which is more than can be said for some other teams leaving Australia this week.

Talk on the forums around SportNetwork this evening is suggesting that Honda are now not quite so willing to assist Super Aguri with their F1 programme. No doubt recent events where an Aguri car has held up a Honda team car, or as in the race in Australia, been capable of keeping a Honda team car behind has fuelled such comment.

Midland F1 now have three weeks to review their progress over the last three races, and Tiago Monteiro has admitted that the team are testing at Silverstone in the next two weeks. Realistically the team need to find a second to a second-and-a-half in order to be on a par with the likes of STR and Red Bull. The only issue is that if those teams also find some speed advantages then Midland F1 won't actually make any ground. We can only hope that the team's development pace is ahead of that of their rivals, but we have faith.