After a
promising start to the
weekend,
Minardi F1 Team drivers
Christijan Albers and
Robert Doornbos suffered
disappointment in today’s Hungarian
Grand Prix as the result of a
hydraulic problem. Doornbos was the
first to be adversely affected, his
car stopping on the circuit on lap
27, while Albers initially reported
a problem on his 49th
lap. Fortunately, he was able to
nurse his car back to the Minardi
garage, however, and with a
comparatively small number of laps
remaining, the Team elected to make
a temporary repair, in order to
allow him to rejoin the race. Albers
was forced to make one further stop,
and although unclassified at the
chequered flag, the strategy
nonetheless yielded an improved
position in the qualifying order for
the Grand Prix of Turkey, in three
weeks. Adding to his problems,
Albers’s car also suffered bodywork
damage during the incident-packed
opening lap of the
race.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS (Best lap: 1 min
25.956 secs; Position: Not
classified)
“I had a great
start but then, at the first corner,
Webber tapped me, I touched Monteiro,
and my car went up in the air,
shedding quite a few aerodynamic
pieces as it landed. It’s a shame,
because although the weekend didn’t
start so well, we had a good
qualifying and my car seemed good on
new tyres, but after the first-lap
incident, the steering was no longer
straight and the handling was really
nervous. Despite that, I was able to
push quite hard at the beginning of
the race and felt I was quicker than
Karthikeyan, but as the tyres
started to fall off a little in
performance, the combination of
mechanical and aero problems meant
we just lost too much in terms of
lap time. We then encountered a
hydraulic problem, but tried to fix
it because you never know if you
might still get a
point. Unfortunately, we didn’t, but
at least it improves my position in
the qualifying order for the next
race.”
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Doornbos was the first of the Minardi drivers' to be
adversely affected, his car stopping on the circuit
on lap 27, while Albers initially
reported a problem on his
49th lap |
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After a promising start to the weekend, Minardi
F1 Team drivers Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos
suffered disappointment in this afternoon’s Hungarian Grand Prix |
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ROBERT DOORNBOS (Best lap: 1 min 25.646 secs; Position: DNF)
“My second Grand Prix was again an
exciting race. The car went a lot better than at Hockenheim,
and we had a proper launch-control start. The
first lap was chaos as usual, but I think I did well to
focus on my own car and keep it in one piece. I then
concentrated on the tyres, trying not to push too much, and
they were coming in nicely after five or six laps, which was
reflected in my lap times.
"I saw my team mate head for the
pits, so I really pushed and got ahead of him. For me, it
was quite a positive race – I was catching the Jordans and
I’m sure I could have passed them and finished in front of
them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, but thanks to all my
mechanics for their efforts, and now we look forward to
Turkey with the aim of finishing in front of the Jordans.”
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal,
Minardi Cosworth
“Unfortunately, Christijan got tangled up in the Turn 1
incident at the start, but then the race settled down and we
felt we would be okay. Sadly, a hydraulic failure occurred
on both cars. It was beneficial to put Christijan back out
after two unscheduled visits to the garage, however, as we
gained a qualifying spot over Jacques Villeneuve in Turkey
by doing so.”
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