Monteiro improves finishing record

Tiago Monteiro improves his record: 14 out of 14

At the new Istanbul circuit in Turkey for the country's inaugural Grand Prix, Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro continued his unique reputation of being the most reliable rookie driver in the history of the Formula One series by finishing his fourteenth consecutive race of his rookie season. The Portuguese driver therefore continues this rookie record that is becoming harder and harder for another rookie driver to beat.

Tiago Monteiro.

Photo by xpb.cc.

However, the Jordan driver did not have the easy race in Turkey with gearbox problems coming to light very early in the race, his first pit stop in fact on just the fourteenth lap. Later in the race an altercation with the McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya compounded the situation further, making for a somewhat disappointing end.

However, the race had started well with Tiago up to eleventh place at the first turn, the best start for a Jordan driver all season, and this was thanks to a brilliant start from Monteiro as soon as the lights went out.

"I had a very good start and the first part of my race was excellent," explained Tiago. "It was obviously not possible to hold Michael Schumacher and Takuma behind me for too long, but I was quickly ahead compared to my direct adversaries, such as Narain and the two Minardi drivers."

"Unfortunately, my gear box showed signs of problems at the first stop. I lost first gear and then all the gears were a bit mixed up, which made my race very tricky, in particular when it was necessary to change gears."

Already used to coming into the pits more than necessary over the course of the last two GP's after becoming the innocent victim of someone else's race in Germany and Hungary - Tiago was forced to come in an extra time in Istanbul as well...

"The gearbox problem developed and made me complete an additional stop, but I nevertheless attacked very extremely at the end of the race, which enabled me to record best time of the race on the fiftieth lap" continued Tiago.

"I could have caught Narain and Doornbos despite my small mechanical hiccups, but I then underwent another penalty: that of the contact Juan Pablo, which I hold him responsible for. He passed me and immediately put himself back on the racing line, in the braking zone. I lost all downforce and when I slowed down, nothing happened. I could not avoid contact. An agreement between the drivers exists so that a driver should not change positions in the braking area."

"On a final note, I am glad to finish my 14th GP because it was not one without issues all weekend! Without these bad blows I think that the Turkish GP, which was one of my best races this year, could have enabled me to record an even better result."

-dca-