It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember Midland F1.
The Midland Group’s Formula One plans started in 2004 when the company was linked to the purchase of the Jaguar team. However, the company decided to purchase Jordan instead ahead of the 2005 season for an estimated $60m, carrying the Jordan name to avoid paying the $48m entry fee for new teams. The team signed rookies Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro for the season.
Having performed poorly in 2005, speculation emerged that Midland was looking to unload the team before the start of the season. However, a deal never materialized and Midland F1 Racing arrived on the grid in 2006. The car was originally designed by Dallara, but the partnership crumbled during the winter break and the designing of the car was completed by in-house design team. The car featured a Toyota power unit.
The team retained Monteiro and signed Dutch driver Christijan Albers, who had scored points with Minardi the season before, to be his teammate. The team originally had their eyes set on Takuma Sato, but were unable to sign him.
Results were poor at the start of the season, but a number of tyre and aerodynamic improvements were made in the middle of the season. However, the team participated in a number of first-lap incidents. In Monaco the teammates collided causing Monteiro to lose his front wing. In Canada the duo collided again at the hairpin, ending Albers’ day.
The team consistently performed ahead of Super Aguri, but were bested by the rest of the teams on the grid. The team was disqualified from the German Grand Prix for running illegal flexible rear wings. Two race incidents for the team resulted in a double retirement for the team in Turkey, bringing the team to its knees.
During the Italian Grand Prix the following weekend, it was announced that the Midland team had been sold to Spyker for $106.6m. The company took immediate control of the team, although it was not permitted to change the team name mid-season. However, a new livery was put on the cars and Spyker was added as the team’s title sponsor, now called Spyker MF1 Racing.
The team had made many performance improvements to the car throughout the year, managing to cut the performance deficit in half. However, with only three races remaining in the season, the team was unable to gain any points or improved results under Spyker’s ownership.
The team was renamed Spyker F1 for the 2007 season, although it was short lived, with the team having been sold to Force India at the end of the season. The team was able to score points under the Jordan, Spyker and Force India names, making Midland the only team owner unable to score any points.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
