Midland F1 Racing (also known as MF1 Racing, or simply "Midland") was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
constructor and racing team which competed in the
2006 Formula One season
The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championshi ...
with drivers
Christijan Albers and
Tiago Monteiro
Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...
. The team was created by the renaming of
Jordan Grand Prix
Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan. The team was based at Silverstone, UK but raced with an Irish licence.
In early 2005, the t ...
after its purchase by Canadian businessman, and owner of the
Midland Group
The Midland Group is an international trading and investment holding company. Registered in Guernsey under the name Midland Resources Holding Ltd, the group owns a number of subsidiaries across the agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, shippin ...
,
Alex Shnaider
Alexander Yevseyevich Shnaider (russian: Алекса́ндр Евсе́евич "А́лекс" Шнайдер; he, אלכסנדר (אלכס) שניידר; born 3 August 1968) is a Russian-born Canadian entrepreneur and former commodities tra ...
. The team
was registered as the first Russian Formula One team, reflecting Shnaider's roots, although it continued to be based in the United Kingdom, at Jordan's Silverstone factory. Towards the end of the 2006 season, the team was sold to
Spyker Cars N.V.; the team raced in its last three Grands Prix under the official name Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007, the team competed as
Spyker F1
The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One season, 2007 Formula One World Championship with a List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationa ...
, and in 2008 was sold to Indian businessman
Vijay Mallya
Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India.
T ...
and was renamed
Force India F1.
2005 purchase of Jordan
![Karthikeyan (Jordan) locking brakes in qualifying at USGP 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Karthikeyan_%28Jordan%29_locking_brakes_in_qualifying_at_USGP_2005.jpg)
The Midland Group's interest in Formula One involvement began in 2004 when they confirmed plans to create a team to race in the season. Although they were initially linked with creating a new unit or purchasing
Jaguar, the group instead signed a deal to buy the
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
team from
Eddie Jordan
Edmund Patrick Jordan, OBE (born 30 March 1948), also known as EJ, is an Irish businessman, television personality and former motorsport team owner. Born in Dublin, Jordan worked first at the Bank of Ireland. He won the Irish Kart Championship ...
prior to the season, for a sum of $60 million. As a result, the team would be a legal continuation of Jordan and not a new entity subject to Formula One's $48 million entry bond. It also allowed Midland to claim the television revenue generated by Jordan's subsequent ninth place in the constructors' championship.
The team retained Jordan's name for the 2005 season but struggled at the back of the grid with rookie drivers
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One.
He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British F ...
and
Tiago Monteiro
Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...
. The highlights of the season were Monteiro's third-place finish at the
US Grand Prix
The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...
(in which only six cars competed due to problems with Michelin tyres), Monteiro managed an excellent eighth place at Spa in wet conditions to give the Jordan name its last point and his lengthy streak of consecutive finishes, which underlined the car's reliability.
Some media reports at this time began to speculate that Midland were unhappy with their purchase and looking to offload Jordan even before the team entered under its own name in 2006. Team principal
Trevor Carlin
Trevor Carlin is a British motorsports team manager and owner. He currently owns Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series.
Carlin has had success in the junior motorsport formulas in a period spanning over 25 years. Carlin's career began in Inter ...
quit the team after seven races, and chief engineer and designer Mark Smith before the end of the season. There were consistent reports that the team was linked with a buy-out by former Formula One driver
Eddie Irvine
Edmund Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari.
He b ...
.
2006 season
![Christijan Albers USA 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Christijan_Albers_USA_2006.jpg)
The name of the team was changed to MF1 Racing for the 2006 Formula One season. In the UK a joke emerged regarding this short form being written in the same way as economy furniture manufacturer
MFI. Over the winter Russian driver
Roman Rusinov
Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver who competed in the FIA World Endu ...
tested a new car, the ''Midland M16'' with a new livery (red, white and black to reflect Midland Group's corporate colours) and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
engines.
MotoGP motorcyclist
Max Biaggi
Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi (; born 26 June 1971) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who achieved six World Championships. With four 250 cc road race titles and two in World Superbikes, he is one of only two ri ...
also had a test in the car at
Silverstone in January. Italian racing car constructor
Dallara
Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...
had originally been contracted to develop the M16, however the agreement was discontinued during the design process after a disappointing contribution from the Italian manufacturer. The senior management subsequently placed its faith in the incumbent design team, promoting former head of vehicle science
James Key to the role of technical director towards the end of the 2005 season.
Shnaider had been insistent that Midland intended to field Formula One's first Russian driver - although Russian drivers had tested in the past, mainly for the
Minardi team, none had ever raced in a Grand Prix - but instead signed Dutchman
Christijan Albers from Minardi, and retained Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro. The team had previously failed in a bid to sign
Takuma Sato
, nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win th ...
.
During the team's very short time in F1, they used three drivers on the Fridays of Grands Prix:
*
Markus Winkelhock
Markus Winkelhock (born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s. During his brief Formula One career he led the ...
at Sakhir, Melbourne, Hockenheim and Hungaroring
*
Giorgio Mondini at Sepang, Imola, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Silverstone, Montreal, Indianapolis, Istanbul and Monza
*
Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also t ...
at Nürburgring and Magny-Cours
During the last three races, as ''Spyker MF1 Racing'', the team used the following test drivers:
*
Alexandre Prémat
Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, ...
at Shanghai
*
Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also t ...
at Suzuka
*
E. J. Viso
Ernesto José "E. J." Viso Lossada (born March 19, 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver. He has raced in the 2005 and 2006 GP2 Series seasons, and has also driven the third car for Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007 he competed in the GP2 Se ...
at Interlagos
![MF1 Collision (crop)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/MF1_Collision_%28crop%29.PNG)
As the 2006 season went on, the team went from running ahead of
Super Aguri
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. T ...
but behind everyone else, to consistently sparring with other midfield teams such as
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...
and
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Re ...
although it only ever finished ahead of crippled cars,
Super Aguri
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. T ...
and the occasional Toro Rosso. Much of that progress was down to tyre development from Bridgestone coupled with significant improvements in aerodynamics and handling (overseen by Simon Phillips and Richard Frith respectively). The improved performance saw the team begin to make it into the second qualifying session on an occasional basis - eight times out of a possible 36 overall - with a best qualifying position of 14th.
Unfortunately this increased mid-season performance did not translate into hard results as the team were involved in a number of first-lap accidents, notably at Monaco, Indianapolis and Montreal, and the team was disqualified from the German Grand Prix for running a flexible wing in contravention of the sport's technical regulations.
The team went from being around four seconds off the pace per lap in 2005 to around 2 seconds per lap at the time of its sale to Spyker cars in September 2006.
Sale of the team
![Spyker M16 Christijan Albers September 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Spyker_M16_Christijan_Albers_September_2006.jpg)
Rumours had been floating about in the paddock throughout the mid-season about the possible sale of the team, less than two years after Shnaider originally bought it from Eddie Jordan. Reports suggested a price tag of $128 million, and that Shnaider was seriously considering the possibility of the sale. Formula One teams had become more valuable, because no more teams could enter after 2008, with the maximum of 12 places already filled.
On 9 September 2006, it was revealed that the team was sold to
Spyker Cars
Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car marque. The modern Spyker Cars held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's motto is "''Nulla tenaci invia est via''", Latin for "For the tenacious, no road is impassable". The marque's logo dis ...
. Spyker paid $106.6 million for the team. On 10 September
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.[Colin Kolles
Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic 13 December 1967 in Timișoara) is a Romanian-German former team principal and managing director of the Hispania Racing F1 Team, previously holding a similar position at the team known under the names Jordan, ...](_blank)
remained as team principal, while
Michiel Mol
Michiel Mol (born 4 August 1969) is a Dutch businessman, and former director of Spyker F1 and Force India.
Early life and career
Mol was born in Delft, Netherlands. His father, Jan Mol, co-founded the software company Volmac in 1966. The co ...
became the new Director of F1 racing and member of the Spyker board and
Mike Gascoyne joined as Chief Designer at the end of the season. The cars appeared in a revised livery for the final three races of 2006. Name changes are not allowed mid-season, but Spyker were legitimately able to name themselves as the team's title sponsor, so the team raced in its last three Grands Prix under the official name "Spyker MF1 Racing". In 2007, the team competed as
Spyker F1
The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One season, 2007 Formula One World Championship with a List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationa ...
. From 2008 onwards, the team competed as
Force India.
Complete Formula One results
(
key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
* The team was disqualified from the German Grand Prix for running a flexible wing in contravention of the sport's technical regulations.
References
External links
MF1 Racing official website
{{Formula One constructors
Formula One constructors
Formula One entrants
Russian auto racing teams