By Huw Alban
May 6 2006

Midland F1 were on song yesterday during the Friday free practice sessions, and today fans could be forgiven for being a liitle worried about this mornings times. We are advised however that the team have no concerns for the crucial qualifying hour.

Midand F1 were straight out for the start of the session, getting their installation laps done and dusted.

It was another 10 minutes before the drivers took to the track again, but their times were way down the bottom of the timesheets. I watched the live timing for another 20 minutes and there was no improvement with MF1 still at the bottom.

A quick chat with the team revealed that the team were "fine tuning" their setup and that there was nothing to be worried about.

Scant detail maybe, but it confirmed a few things in my mind. I had wondered whether the team were running on old tyres today, and saving tyres for the race. In yesterdays sessions it was clear that the best lap was the first flyer so why waste tyres today if you're already happy with your tyre choice?

OK, so we've perhaps got a partial explanation for todays slower times. What else?

Towards the back end of today's session, both drivers seemed to find some more pace suggesting that there was some methodical setup work taking place this morning that suddenly came together. We saw the same pattern yesterday in the second practice session where suddenly Christijan and Adrian put in stunning times in the last 10 minutes.

Anyway, that's my view and I'm sure there are others. Qualifying starts in a little over a hours time, and for the first time this season I am really confident about their chances.

Full times from the third free practice session for the European Grand Prix:

1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.788
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.093
3 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:31.395
4 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:31.531
5 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:31.584
6 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:31.807
7 Jenson Button Honda 1:32.104
8 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:32.197
9 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:32.290
10 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.320
11 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.459
12 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:32.505
13 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:32.534
14 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:32.711
15 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:32.773
16 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:32.779
17 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.989
18 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:33.120
19 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:33.744
20 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:34.469
21 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:35.706
22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.082