MRD Racing

MRD Racing were a British team in FF1M. They were formed shortly before the 1999 FF1M Season by Scotsman Marc Downie. The team are currently competing in their sixth season with drivers Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya.

History

FF1M

Shortly before the 1999 season MRD laid the foundations for their team by signing Repsol to fund their assault on FF1M. They began the 1999 season with Bruno Junqueira and Nick Heidfeld, however, by the second race in Brazil, Junqueira had been replaced by impressive rookie and FF2M champ Jarno Trulli. Their Ferrari engine was particularly strong enabling Heidfeld to score his maiden win at the Austrian Grand Prix, but Trulli went a few better than that. Out of the last six races, Trulli finished all of them on the podium scoring enough points to secure the driver's championship for himself. MRD ended their first season an impressive 3rd ahead of Maestro Motorsports.

The 2000 season began with a lot of promise, with a big money deal with drinks giant Red Bull, 3-time champion Fernando Alonso at the wheel teamed up with Kimi Raikkonen. Despite questionable reliability from the car, Fernando Alonso had a major opportunity to make it two driver's championships in a row for MRD after key runners Schumacher and Trulli retired, but it wasn't meant to be as transmission failure ruined any chance of claiming the title. 4 wins throughout the season secured 2nd place in the constructor's championship for MRD.

The team was looking forward to better fortunes in 2001 as Jarno Trulli returned as a back-to-back champion, supported by rookie Felipe Massa. Unfortunately for MRD and all other Bridgestone runners, the Michelin-equipped teams had a great advantage in the very beginning of the season and until the first in-season test Trulli could only manage 7th and 8th place finishes, well ahead of any other Bridgestone racers. Once the Bridgestones had a chance to catch up, Trulli began to shine brighter taking a win in the 5th round, in Spain. From there on, Trulli won another 3 races and alternated retirements with low points-scoring positions. Ultimately Trulli's incredible work put the team in a very solid 4th place in the championship, a 3-place improvement over its pre-season predictions.

For 2002, MRD, aiming to return to the front, signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Panasonic, enabling them to sign former champion Fernando Alonso to partner Massa. Alonso's start to the season was electric, winning 3 of the first four races. Fernando then engaged in a battle with Tornado's Juan Pablo Montoya, but the Spaniard drove consistently when it really mattered, finishing races where Montoya had difficulty. Despite not adding to his winning tally, Alonso won the driver's championship convincingly. Massa's season however was a disaster, only scoring 7 points and resulting in only 4th in the constructor's championship for MRD.

Due to Massa's poor performances, he was dropped despite having a contract extension for the 2003 season. Instead, Alonso was joined by Brit Jenson Button. The season however was more of a development season as the MRD-Mercedes was no match for the Dark Wolf, Pedersen and FJR teams. Throughout the season, team boss Marc Downie had refused to develop a turbo for their car, despite the success it gave to the top three teams. As the season progressed, so did both drivers, as Alonso and Button both won a race each in the last two races. MRD ended the season 4th in the constructor's championship.

Alonso remained with MRD for 2004, but was joined by Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya. Having won the last two races of the season, hopes were high for team boss Marc Downie, but the Bridgestone tyres proved to be a handicap. Unlike rivals FJR, MRD's car and engine combination wasn't able to overcome the deficiencies, and throughout the season, Downie was bitterly unhappy with the engine rules as he felt that his turbo powered rivals were getting a huge advantage. Alonso had a strong start to the season with 2 podiums in the first 3 races and MRD were briefly 3rd in the constructor's championship, but that was their peak. They did end up as the highest placed naturally aspirated team, but it was MRD's first winless campaign in their FF1M history.

It was all change for 2005 with Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen making it an all Finnish line-up. Changes to the engine rules and the introduction of a single tyre manufacturer meant that MRD stood a more competitive chance with a very powerful Mercedes engine. Once again, MRD had a strong start to the season with Raikkonen taking 3 podium finishes in the first 4 races including a brilliant win at Imola where he neatly avoided the first lap carnage, but the atrocious reliability of the Mercedes engine had damaged any hopes of remaining in the championship fight with 22 out of 34 retirements. The end result was 5th in the championship, which was actually better than what the paddock predicted pre-season.

For 2006, MRD secured a new sponsor in the form of whiskey giants Johnnie Walker. Fernando Alonso was also reunited with his old team to partner Kimi Raikkonen, repeating the 2000 line-up and making it one of the strongest driver line-ups in the field. Alonso took a victory at the Turkish Grand Prix, his first win since the 2003 United States Grand Prix during his previous stint with MRD, but the car however was no match against FJR and Shannon, and Alonso's win proved to the only one of the season. After a titantic season long battle against veterans Dodgem throughout the season, MRD eventually beat them to 4th in the constructor's championship.

Kimi Raikkonen was retained for a third successive season and had a third successive new teammate in the form of German Timo Glock. Aside from a totally new livery trying to promote green initiatives, the biggest change was Honda replacing Mercedes as MRD's powerplant. As it turned out, the engine proved to be a huge problem. The reliability wasn't too bad, but there was a severe power shortage which came to a head at Hockenheim as MRD failed to qualify. Raikkonen did bounce back in the best possible way with pole position at the Hungaroring, a circuit where power isn't so important, but after experiencing their worst season, MRD announced that he was pulling out of the series.

Results

Year	Engine	Ch. Pos	Races	Points	Wins	Drivers	Ch. Pos	Races	Points	Wins
1999	Ferrari (Works)	3rd	17	126	6	Bruno Junqueria	23rd	1	0
						Jarno Trulli	1st	16	91	5
						Nick Heidfeld	9th	17	34	1
2000	Ferrari (Works)	2nd	16	120	4	Fernando Alonso	4th	16	73	1
						Kimi Raikkonen	6th	16	47	3
2001	Ferrari	4th	17	87	4	Jarno Trulli	4th	17	69	4
						Felipe Massa	11th	17	18
2002	Mercedes	4th	16	101	3	Fernando Alonso	1st	16	94	3
						Felipe Massa	16th	16	7
2003	Mercedes	4th	16	62	2	Fernando Alonso	5th	16	44	1
						Jenson Button	16th	16	18	1
2004	Mercedes V8	7th	17	43		Fernando Alonso	10th	17	27
						Juan Pablo Montoya	16th	17	16
2005	Mercedes V8	5th	17	59	1	Kimi Raikkonen	5th	17	48	1
						Heikki Kovalainen	17th	17	11
2006	Mercedes V8	4th	17	83	1	Kimi Raikkonen	8th	17	34
						Fernando Alonso	4th	17	49	1
2007	Honda V8	8th	16*	27		Kimi Raikkonen	11th	16*	20
						Timo Glock	16th	16*	7

• MRD failed to qualify for the 2007 German Grand Prix

FF2M

MRD Racing also runs MRD Junior, an FF2M team. The team has competed since 1999 and won a constructor's championship in the 2001 season. 2003 was their last season to date.

Results

Season	Engine	Ch. Pos	Races	Points	Wins	Drivers	Ch. Pos	Races	Points	Wins
1999	Renault	6th	12	42		Toranasuke Takagi	13th	12	20
						Oliver Gavin	12th	12	22
2001	Renault	1st	12	141	3	Rubens Barrichello	5th	12	68	2
						Mark Webber	3rd	12	73	1
2002	Renault	2nd	12	112	2	Sebastien Bourdais	2nd	12	60	1
						Giorgio Pantano	5th	12	52	1
2003	Renault	3rd	12	99	3	Giorgio Pantano	2nd	12	87	3
						Tomas Scheckter	18th	12	12