Christijan Albers took years to travel from Formula Three to Formula One, and second and third in the DTM championship led to work as a test driver for Minardi in 2004. While there he impressed enough to be given a drive in 2005 when he showed consistency, finishing 14 of his 19 starts and earning points for fifth place in the farcical US Grand Prix when only six cars started. In 2006 he drove for Midland, the re-named Jordan team, but made little impression. Despite that he agreed a deal to remain with the team when it was sold to Spyker, but found himself outperformed by rookie Adrian Sutil. At Magny-Cours he ignored a lollipop telling him not to leave the pits during a pit stop, driving off with part of the fuel rig attached. Albers received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving while Niki Lauda described the incident as the most stupid thing he had ever seen in F1. He was released in July of that year due to a lack of sponsorship money, returning to DTM and then racing in the USA.