Albers 'Annoyed' at Driving Errors
Dutchman Christijan Albers said he was annoyed after making several mistakes during his flying lap in first qualifying at Imola
The Minardi team failed to escape the final row of the grid despite the introduction of the new PS05, their first brand new car in three years.
The car, however, had only been tested once and team principal Paul Stoddart admitted today he is not expecting any of their drivers to finish the race.
Albers, however, was pleased with the progress made during the weekend despite finishing down in 19th place, nearly a second behind the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro.
"I'm a little bit annoyed with myself, as I made quite a few mistakes on the qualifying lap this afternoon, but I'm happy that we've been going quicker every time out so far this weekend," said Albers. "There is no doubt we have made progress with the car, which certainly felt better today with the changes we made, and I think we should be able to go quicker again tomorrow.
"I'm looking forward to the race, which hopefully, we'll be able to finish, and to next week's test, when we will aim to find more time in the car. Finally, I just want to thank the guys again. They've been working some really long shifts, and it's impossible to say too much about the huge effort they've been putting in."
Albers' teammate Patrick Friesacher was slowest today, although he too was encouraged by the car's potential.
"We found a little more grip today, and the car felt good," he said. "I think it has a lot of potential even though, so far, we have done such a small amount of running. There is more work to do on the set-up, but we are definitely heading in the right direction.
"As for the qualifying lap this afternoon, everything was going well until I slid slightly wide at the last chicane. If not for that, I think we would have had a reasonable time. Tomorrow is another day, though, and our aim will be to have a good second qualifying session and to finish the race."
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