Midland F1 Racing

This article describes the former Formula 1 team Midland F1 Racing, based in the UK and driving with a Russian license. For the former Swiss Formula 2 racing team Midland Racing Team, see the corresponding article .

Midland

Surname	Midland F1 Racing
Companies	Midland F1 Racing Limited
Company headquarters	Silverstone , UK
Team boss	Colin Kolles
statistics
First Grand Prix	Bahrain 2006
Last Grand Prix	Brazil 2006
Race driven	18th
Constructors' championship	0
Drivers World Championship	0
Race wins	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Points	0

Midland F1 Racing ( Midland or MF1 for short) was a short-lived motorsport team that took part in the Formula 1 World Championship under its own name in 2006 . The team was part of the Midland Group , a holding company owned by Russian entrepreneur Alexander Shnaider based on the Channel Island of Guernsey . Midland F1 was the immediate successor to the traditional Formula 1 team Jordan Grand Prix and at the same time one of the predecessors of the Force India racing team, which was involved in Formula 1 until 2018 . Midland F1 was the first Formula 1 racing team to start with a Russian license.

history

In October 2004, the Midland Group announced its intention to take part in the Formula 1 World Championship with its own UK-based team from 2006 onwards. The Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara was to be commissioned with the chassis development . Initially, Midland and Shnaider considered building their own racing team from scratch; later there were considerations to take over an existing team. Midland was one of the parties interested in taking over the Milton Keynes- based Jaguar Racing team , which was bought by Dietrich Mateschitz in November 2004 and restructured into Red Bull Racing .

In January 2005, Midland took over the majority of shares in the Jordan Grand Prix for allegedly $ 60 million from its founder Eddie Jordan through the mediation of Bernie Ecclestone . Shnaider installed a new management team, which included Boris Jelzin's grandson , Colin Kolles and, at times, Trevor Carlin . Under Carlins and later Kolles' management, the racing team was continued under the name Jordan in 2005, before the name was changed to Midland F1 Racing at the beginning of the 2006 season. The team drove with a Russian license this year.

Even after the first races, the team was often the subject of media reports with negative connotations, which Midland described as “the most unsympathetic racing team in Formula 1”; Kolles in particular was criticized. Midland responded to this development by appointing former racing driver Johnny Herbert as communications director. From April 2006 there were also reports of financial and sporting crises, which found further breeding ground through repeated restructuring in the team. Contrary to other declarations of intent, Shnaider has been negotiating with various interested parties about selling the team since March 2006. Since May 2006 Shnaider, mediated by the manager of his regular driver Christijan Albers , had received an offer from a consortium led by the Dutch vehicle manufacturer Spyker Cars NV and the entrepreneur Michiel Mol , the acceptance of which took until late summer 2006. On the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on September 10, 2006, Spyker finally took over the racing team. The purchase price was quoted at $ 106 million. The team retained the Russian license for the remainder of the 2006 season and competed in the last three races of the year under the name Spyker MF1 Racing . At the beginning of the 2007 season, the name was changed to Spyker F1 .

The 2006 season

Tiago Monteiro in the Midland F1 M16

Collision between the two Midland pilots at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

Midland F1 had a budget of € 80 million for the 2006 season. This year it was the financially weakest racing team. From a technical and organizational point of view, Midland continued the work of the Jordan team largely unchanged. Motorsport manager Colin Kolles , who was team principal at Jordan last year, stayed in this position in 2006. Midland also took over the engine contract with Toyota, whose customer team had been Jordan since 2005, for the new season. The emergency vehicle was the Midland M16 , which, contrary to the original plan, was not developed by Dallara but in its own factory under the direction of James Key . Conceptually, the MF16 was based on the Jordan EJ15 from 2005.

Last year's Jordan pilot Tiago Monteiro received one of the Midland cockpits. The second car was driven by the Dutchman Christijan Albers , who replaced Narain Karthikeyan . In addition, Midland employed a number of so-called third drivers who, according to the regulations at the time, were entitled to take part in the Friday training sessions for the team. They included Giorgio Mondini , Alexandre Prémat , Adrian Sutil , Ernesto Viso and Markus Winkelhock . Fabrizio del Monte , Ronnie Quintarelli , Roman Russinow and Adrián Vallés were also hired as pure test drivers , who had to pay for their assignments and thus contributed to the team's budget. The one-time test drive by motorcycle racer Max Biaggi in a Midland in January 2006 was purely a PR campaign .

The two Midland drivers did not achieve any racing success. The team was usually in front of the newly founded Super Aguri racing team during the races . However, Midland did not come close to the performance of the other teams. In qualifying training, the Midland drivers mostly did not get past the first block; only eight times did one of them take part in Q2. The best qualifying result was a 14th place on the grid. The best race result was Monteiro's 9th place in the thirteenth race of the season in Hungary . In Canada, both Midland pilots collided with each other, whereupon Albers retired early. At the German Grand Prix , Albers and Monteiro were disqualified because their cars had irregularly flexible wings.

At the end of the season, Midland finished 10th and - ahead of Super Aguri - penultimate place in the constructors' championship.

Numbers and dates

All drivers in Formula 1

Surname	Years	Grand Prix	Points	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	SR	best WM-Pos.
Christijan Albers	2006	18th	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
Tiago Monteiro	2006	18th	-	-	-	-	-	-	21st

Results in Formula 1

season	chassis	driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	Points	rank
2006	Midland M16																					-	10.
		T. Monteiro	18th	17th	13	DNF	16	12	16	15th	16	14th	DNF	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	16	15th
		C. Albers	19th	DNF	12	11	DNF	13	DNF	12	15th	DNF	DNF	15th	DSQ	10	DNF	17th	15th	DNF	14th

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Web links

Commons : MF1 Racing  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} N.N .: “MF1 launch first Russian F1 car”. autosport.com, February 6, 2006, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
2. ↑ NN: "Midland F1 confirmed". grandprix.com, October 8, 2004, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
3. ^ NN: "New Team Plan to Make F1 Debut in 2006". autosport.com, October 8, 2004, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
4. ^ NN: "Midland considers Jag buy-out". (No longer available online.) Autosport.com, October 21, 2004, archived from the original on December 22, 2015 ; accessed on December 11, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Christian Nimmervoll: "Midland boss Shnaider is fed up". motorsport-total.com, April 21, 2006, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
6. ↑ NN: "Yeltsin Jr joins Midland F1 team." autosport.com, December 15, 2004, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
7. ^ NN: "Carlin Set to Run Midland F1 Team". autosport.com, October 14, 2004, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Fabian Hust: "No room for Johnny Herbert". motorsport-total.com, September 28, 2006, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Fabian Hust: "MF Racing: Only money for a few weeks?" Motorsport-total.com, April 12, 2006, accessed on December 11, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Jonathan Noble: "Midland in F1 for the long-term". autosport.com, February 3, 2006, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
11. ↑ Christijan Nimmervoll: "Why is Shnaider still hesitating?" Motorsport-total.com, July 27, 2006, accessed on December 11, 2015 . 
12. ^ Message dated September 11, 2006 on the Times of Malta website (accessed December 9, 2015).
13. ↑ Michele Lostia: "Dallara won't build Midland's car". autosport.com, July 14, 2005, accessed December 11, 2015 . 
14. ↑ Michele Lostia: "Biaggi says MF1 test was a one-off". autosport.com, January 19, 2006, accessed December 11, 2015 .