05/05/2006
NEWS STORY
Tiago Monteiro: "Once again, we struggled a bit with our tyre choice. It's good to see that the car has potential - that's very positive, very motivating for the team. I just need to find out what we're doing wrong with the #18 car. There's something, obviously, that we're doing wrong, or maybe I'm doing wrong. There's something wrong with the set-up on my car somewhere, so we'll work hard with our engineers to find out what it is and hopefully be on the pace tomorrow."
Christijan Albers: "We struggled this morning a little bit, testing different tyre compounds. I was having a hard time finding the right set-up, but the team did a great job over the lunch break to fine tune the car and get it ready for the second session. Bridgestone also gave us a great set of tyres, and I think we can make further gains tomorrow, because if you look at the times set by our third car and by my car, we can put together a solid race strategy. But it was the same thing heading into Saturday in Imola, so let's just hope we have some good luck in qualifying. But it's great to be there, in 12th place, ahead of Raikkonen. The nicest part is that we weren't playing any games with the fuel loads; we just did our jobs and came by some honest-to-goodness speed. It's nice for our fans, and hopefully we can go even a little bit quicker tomorrow and give them a good reason to be optimistic for the race."
Adrian Sutil: "That felt really good, and it was getting better and better all the time. In the beginning, we struggled with low grip, but we just kept improving the car until it felt right. The tyres got better, as well, by the end. I couldn't see my lap times, but I just did my job as I normally do, trying to push the maximum out of the car and, yeah, it was a good lap. The car certainly has some potential. It helps that this is one of my favourite tracks, for sure, but to be in the top 10 on my first Friday is unbelievable. Like I said, it felt really good, and I can't wait to do it again."
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "We are improving, and the times don't lie. This is a fact. Adrian did a very impressive job for us today, but I have to say that I was perhaps the only one who wasn't surprised. I helped him to become a Mercedes junior driver and I know his potential. If he continues in this way, he will have a good future in F1."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "It was quite a normal Friday with regard to our programme. We concentrated on the tyres with the third car, and we're very pleased with the job Adrian did for us. We also did some set-up work early on with the race drivers, who then did their normal tyre comparison in the second session. We certainly got some clear results from the tyre data, so I don't think our choices are going to be too difficult from that aspect. We'll all do our homework tonight to improve the performance even more tomorrow and hope for the best."