Team story
Origins
Midland entered Formula 1 by buying Jordan, not by building another team from scratch. The old name remained in 2005; in 2006 Alex Shnaider’s group adopted MF1 Racing and a Russian licence. The operational base was still Silverstone.
Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro drove the M16, maintaining some of the sporting and technical continuity of the preceding programme.
The Formula 1 journey
The M16 used the Toyota V8 in the first year of the new engine formula. Monteiro was ninth in Hungary, the season’s best result, but at the time only the first eight scored points. The team earned none.
Albers’s and Monteiro’s races therefore represented a full season of work on track, not a brief attempt confined to qualifying.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Midland
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Bahrain Grand Prix
Tiago Monteiro · Bahrain Grand Prix 2006. The recorded position is P17; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Hungarian Grand Prix
Tiago Monteiro · Hungarian Grand Prix 2006. The recorded position is P9; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Brazilian Grand Prix
Tiago Monteiro · Brazilian Grand Prix 2006. The recorded position is P15; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
Red, white and black reflected Midland’s corporate colours, replacing Jordan yellow. Ownership and name changed more than the team’s geography. The collaboration initially discussed with Dallara did not become the supply of a complete external chassis: the M16 was built by the British organisation that had inherited Jordan’s facilities.
What remains
The sale to Spyker took place during 2006. The Spyker MF1 name and an orange livery appeared in the final three races, but the separate Spyker constructor belongs to 2007. The M16 therefore went through a change of ownership within the same season.
MF1 remains the Russian chapter of an organisation that subsequently evolved again, without retrospectively claiming Jordan victories or the results of later owners.