The history of the Midland M16 is closely tied to Canadian billionaire entrepreneur Alex Shnaider. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 1968, he emigrated with his family first to Israel and later to Canada. He graduated from York University while trading textiles and electronics, until the age of 25, when he founded a steel trading company in Belgium. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the privatization of former Soviet industries, Shnaider made his fortune by purchasing the Ukrainian steel manufacturer Zaporizhstal. He subsequently founded the Midland Group financial conglomerate, headquartered in Toronto with its registered office in the tax haven of Guernsey. The group initially emerged as a steel producer and later engaged in various investments, particularly in the steel and construction sectors, mainly in the former Soviet countries. Midland’s interest in involvement in Formula 1 began in 2004 and, although it was initially believed that a new team would be created, the group signed an agreement to purchase Jordan Grand Prix before the start of the 2005 season, for a sum of 60 million dollars. As a result of this deal, the team would be legally considered a continuation of Jordan rather than a completely new entry, thus exempt from the 48-million-dollar entry fee for Formula 1, as well as entitled to receive television rights based on the team’s placement in the previous championship. In fact, for the 2005 season the team retained the Jordan name, as well as all of its facilities in Silverstone, and presented its car, the EJ15 model, in Moscow to highlight the origins of the new owner.
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| MIDLAND M16, Christijan Albers Imola, San Marino GP 2006 |
During 2005, several media rumors began to suggest that Midland was dissatisfied with its investment and was looking for a way to dispose of Jordan before the team would be entered under its own name in 2006. Sporting director Trevor Carlin left the team after seven races, and chief designer and head engineer Mark Smith did the same before the end of the season. Nevertheless, for 2006 the team’s name was changed to Midland F1 Racing and registered as the first Russian team in Formula 1. The new car, named the M16, was presented at Silverstone on 3 February 2006 with race drivers Tiago Monteiro from Portugal and Christijan Albers from the Netherlands, even though Shnaider would have preferred Russian driver Roman Rusinov or then-motorcycling star Max Biaggi. Over the course of the team’s very brief presence in Formula 1, three drivers were used as Friday test drivers: Germans Adrian Sutil and Markus Winkelhock (son of the late Manfred), and Swiss driver Giorgio Mondini.
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| MIDLAND M16, Tiago Monteiro Imola, San Marino GP 2006 |
Abandoning Jordan’s traditional yellow livery, the new M16 appeared in Midland Group’s “corporate” colors: black, red, and white. The car was a direct descendant of the Jordan EJ15, and for the development of the M16 an agreement was reached with Italian constructor Dallara. The contract was later terminated during the design phase due to the disappointing contribution from the Italian constructor, and Shnaider preferred to entrust the project to the design staff already present at Jordan. James Kay was appointed Technical Director, John McQuilliam Chief Designer, Mike Wroe Head of Electronics, and Simon Phillips remained Head of Aerodynamics.
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| MIDLAND M16, Christijan Albers Imola, San Marino GP 2006 |
Like its predecessor, the EJ15, the new M16 also retained Toyota engines, specifically the new V8 RVX-06, which allowed engineers to make significant aerodynamic improvements, especially in the rear section of the car and in the more tapered sidepods. The rest of the car was practically identical to the Jordan EJ15, with similarly poor performance. The season was, in fact, a complete disaster for Midland, with two twelfth-place finishes as the best results in the first eleven races. After both cars were disqualified from the German Grand Prix due to excessive wing flexibility, the following race in Hungary produced the season’s best result, with Monteiro and Albers crossing the finish line in 9th and 10th place respectively. Around mid-season, rumors began circulating in the paddock about a potential sale of the team at a price of 128 million dollars (more than double the amount paid less than two years earlier to Eddie Jordan). Formula 1 teams were becoming increasingly valuable, due to the fact that no new teams would be allowed to enter after 2008. On 9 September 2006, shortly before the Italian Grand Prix, the sale of the team to Dutch sports-car manufacturer Spyker Cars was made official, for 106.6 million dollars. Shnaider was no longer involved in team operations, Colin Kolles remained team principal, while Michiel Mol became the new Formula 1 program director and a member of Spyker’s board of directors. Mike Gascoyne was hired as Chief Designer to develop the 2007 car.
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| MIDLAND M16, Christijan Albers Shanghai, Chinese GP 2006 |
For the final three races of the championship, the cars adopted a completely gray/orange livery and, although name changes are not allowed during the season, Spyker Cars registered not as owner but as the team’s main sponsor, thus changing the official name to Spyker MF1 Racing Toyota. At the end of a thoroughly disappointing season, Midland/Spyker finished the championship in 10th place with 0 points, ahead only of Super Aguri thanks to better race finishes.
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