The inaugural Grand Prix
of Turkey turned out to
be an event of markedly
differing fortunes for
Minardi F1 Team
drivers
Robert Doornbos
and
Christijan Albers.
Doornbos scored
his best result in the
three races he has
driven for the
Faenza squad, finishing
in an excellent 13th
position, and ahead of
both Jordan entries. The
only worrying moment
came when his car
stalled leaving the pits
at the end of the first
fuel stop, but quick
work by the Minardi crew
got Doornbos back on
track again quickly. As
the event progressed, it
became clear the team’s
hard tyre-heavy fuel
strategy, although
compromising the
qualifying performance
of both drivers, was the
correct one for the
race. Albers’ race pace
would undoubtedly have
seen him finish strongly
as well, but a number of
problems forced him to
make two unscheduled pit
stops. When it became
clear there was no
chance of improving his
position in the final
race classification, the
team decided to retire
the car.
ROBERT DOORNBOS
(Best lap: 1 min 29.229
secs; Position: 13th)
“What a race! I really
had a lot of fun and I
finished it quite
easily. I’m also happy
with my physical shape
at the end of what was a
tough Grand Prix. The
car actually got better
as the race progressed
and I think we could
have continued, as the
tyres were still in good
shape. I had a great
start for the first
time, and dived inside
Villeneuve, which was
fun. After that, I was
able to keep up a strong
pace, and to have raced
the Jordans and finished
in front of them, what
can I say? I’m a happy
chappy!"
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Robert
Doornbos scored his best result in the three races
he has driven for the Faenza
based F1 squad, finishing in an excellent 13th
position, and ahead of both the Jordan entries |
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The inaugural Grand Prix of Turkey this
afternoon turned
out to be an event of markedly differing fortunes for the Minardi F1 Team drivers Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers |
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CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
(Best lap: 1 min 29.392 secs; Position: Not classified)
“I think we had a reasonable
qualifying, especially as we had a lot of fuel in the car
and chose the hard tyre. It was shame, though, that we had
problems in the race, and also encountered difficulties with
the refuelling rigs. It’s really disappointing to have these
problems when the car is obviously becoming more
competitive, but I think it was the right decision to stay
out for as long as we could in the race in order to achieve
the best possible qualifying slot for the next Grand
Prix.”
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal,
Minardi Cosworth
“We knew we had a good strategy for the weekend, which we
proved today, and Robert put in a gutsy drive to finish 13th
in the race.
"Sadly, Christijan suffered a multitude of problems, ranging
from a fuel rig failure to gear selection difficulties;
however, he almost reached the chequered flag, and put in a
sterling performance in the process. It’s quite clear that
the Minardi Cosworth PS05 is improving race by race, albeit
with a few reliability issues still to be ironed out.”
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