Minardi Monza test notes 2005-08-26

The Minardi F1 Team this afternoon concluded a two-day test at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, scene of next weekend's Italian Grand Prix. With Christijan Albers taking over the driving duties from team mate, Robert Doornbos, the Faenza squad's technical staff once again focused on chassis set-up work, tyre evaluation and the assessment of new aerodynamic components.

Albers covered a total of 99 laps in the course of the morning and afternoon sessions, bringing the total distance covered in the course of the two days to 1031.1 kms.

Christijan Albers:

"We had a really good day today. We made a big step forward, especially considering that this is the first time I've run at Monza and I didn't know the track. We started this morning recording immediately a good lap time and we have improved on this during the day by working intensively on the car."

"Traffic at the end of the session did not allow me to achieve a time as quick as we could have, but it's important to know that the car has the potential to go quicker. I think we can consider ourselves definitely satisfied".

Massimo Rivola, Sporting Director and Team Manager:

"It has been another good day for Minardi. We covered a lot of laps, and again carried out work on different aerodynamic packages and assessed various tyre options. Considering Christijan was not feeling 100 per cent well today, he did the usual professional job we've come to expect."

"In total, we've covered 1000 km over the two days of this test without encountering any significant technical problems, which seems to indicate we've made a good step forward in terms of reliability. It has definitely been a useful test, and sets us up well in terms of our preparations for next weekend's Italian Grand Prix."

CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
Chassis: PS05/03
Best lap: 1 min 24.006 secs
Total laps: 99

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