It was a trouble-free race for Tiago Monteiro in Malaysia, following a number of problems for the Portuguese driver’s Midland F1 car earlier in the weekend. Again the car had developed a transmission problem before the start of yesterday’s race and Monteiro had to do a manual start. In the very hot conditions, matters were not made easier by the fact Monteiro was still suffering from a bad back and  pinched nerve.

 “The start was worrying me because I had so many strong contenders behind me due to the engine penalty situation” Monteiro said. “They dashed around me. It was an interesting situation. I was comfortably in 17th position and as my back muscles warmed up I wasn’t suffering too much from my back pain.

The team had a good strategy, I came in for my first stop on lap 12 to put fresh tyres on. Going out, I got stuck behind some slower cars. I really felt I had the pace to get by them, but it was difficult because I was losing ground on the straight sections.  But I lost up to thirty seconds and could no nothing.

We completed an early second pitstop, which was another good decision, and I was able to put in some good laps. 13 laps before the end of the race, I was up in 15th and managed to make my way up to 13th by the end.

It was a hard race because around 20 laps before the end, I felt the huge pain in my back again. Now although I am exhausted I’m happy to have finished the race and a second finish in the season.

The Midland car showed that it is now quite reliable after all the problems this weekend. I would like to thank everyone in the team which has done such a good job. The team will continue to make some more improvements  before returning to action at Melbourne's Albert Park street circuit for the Australian Grand Prix on April 2nd. ”

Overall, fourteen drivers finished the exciting race at the Malaysian