Despite
promising signs of progress on Friday and
Saturday, the Minardi F1 Team had what could
only be described as a disastrous 2005 Spanish
Grand Prix.
Starting from 14th and 15th places respectively,
drivers Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher
were unable to get away from the starting grid
as the result of an electronic control problem.
After some frantic work by the team, the engines
were restarted and both cars joined the race,
albeit two laps down on the rest of the
field. The drivers then pressed on, determined
to retrieve whatever they could from the event.
Unfortunately, Friesacher retired on lap 13,
when his car ran onto a dirty section of track
and spun into a gravel trap, while Albers
pressed on for a further eight laps before a
suspected gearbox problem ended his race
prematurely.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
“It’s really a shame we
had some problems in the race today because we
had a good qualifying here in Barcelona, and I
think we could have been competitive against the
Jordans.
"Now we will have to wait until Monaco
to see what we can do. It’s also a shame for the
whole Minardi team, which has been working
really hard.
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Starting from 14th and 15th
places respectively on the grid in Barcelona,
Minardi Cosworth drivers Christijan Albers and
Patrick Friesacher were unable to get away from the
starting grid as the result of an
electronic control problem |
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Despite
promising signs of progress on Friday and Saturday, the
Minardi Cosworth F1 Team had what could only be described as a
disastrous 2005 Spanish Grand Prix |
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"It would have been good to finish the race in order to get
more data on the new car, but even so, we can take some
satisfaction from our performance in this weekend’s
qualifying sessions."
PATRICK
FRIESACHER
“I don’t know exactly what happened at
the start – I just let out the clutch and suddenly the
engine shut down. After that, we couldn’t get the car into
neutral so we lost some time while the problem was sorted
out, but we were able to join the race and start putting in
some reasonable laps. Then at corner three, I turned in
normally, but picked up some understeer. As a result, the
car got onto a dirty part of the track, and that was it – I
ended up in the gravel. It’s disappointing, and especially
for the guys, who have again been working so hard this
weekend.”
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal
“Motor racing is
often about highs and lows, and today was definitely a
low. All in all, it has not been a good weekend for the
Minardi team in Spain, so let’s hope Monaco, in two weeks,
will be better.”
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