Hungarian GP: Minardi race notes

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:

"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."

Robert Doornbos:

"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."

CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
Chassis: PS05/01
Best lap: 1 min 25.956 secs
Position: Not classified

ROBERT DOORNBOS
Chassis: PS05/02
Best lap: 1 min 25.646 secs
Position: DNF

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