Tiago Monteiro’s day of qualifying at the 2006 season finale captured a plethora of what Spyker chief Colin Kolles called ‘uncharacteristic’ mistakes.
The day started badly when he incurred a $2000 fine for crossing the white line at pit exit.
“When I got out of the car, the president of Spyker, Victor Muller told me that if I made it to the second session (of qualifying) that he would cover it,” Monteiro smiled bleakly.
But what followed is what the Portuguese described as ‘one of the most stupid mistakes of my F1 career’.
Pushing hard, he hit the kerb at turn-7 in the first 15-minute phase of ‘knockout’ qualifying, spun and stalled.
“Its really frustrating,” he added, “as (teammate) Christijan (Albers) was only three tenths off P16 so I think we could have made it.”
GMMF1
DailyF1News.com
