the ceremony, rewarded the Portuguese driver with a round of applause. As of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, Monteiro is currently the most successful Portuguese driver in Formula One history. Pedro Lamy had previously held this record before with one point and sixth place achieved at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix with Minardi. Also of note, as of the Belgian Grand Prix (where he also scored another point), Monteiro had finished every race of the 2005 season, breaking the record for consecutive finishes for a rookie driver in Formula One, held by Jackie Stewart (1965 season) and Olivier Panis (1994 season), who finished their first six races. This record stood until the 2013 season, when British driver Max Chilton finished all 19 races. Shortly before the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix, Monteiro suffered a toothache that was severe enough to prevent him taking part in the race. However, his team principal Colin Kolles, a qualified dentist, performed emergency root canal surgery and Monteiro was cleared to race. He finished 15th following a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya, which resulted in the Colombian running wide on the penultimate lap and losing second place to Fernando Alonso, thus preventing Montoya's McLaren team scoring its first 1–2 finish since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix. Midland (2006) In 2006 Midland re-signed Monteiro to partner Dutchman Christijan Albers. The two endured a largely uncompetitive season, with their M16 car failing to score a single point, and the pair were regularly outpaced during the year by Toro Rosso and occasionally Super Aguri. In the 18 races, Monteiro retired from six, with his best finish being at the wet-dry Hungarian Grand Prix where he finished ninth, just outside the points-scoring positions with Albers finishing behind in tenth. On 21 December 2006, it was announced that Monteiro would not be driving for the newly renamed Spyker team in 2007. The highly rated German Adrian Sutil was instead signed on a multi-year contract. Monteiro had briefly held discussions about a drive for Toro Rosso, but these hopes were ended when the Faenza outfit confirmed Vitantonio Liuzzi as a driver at the launch of the STR2 car on 13 February 2007, followed by Scott Speed at a Bahrain testing session on 24 February, leaving Monteiro without a drive for the season. World Touring Car Championship/Cup career SEAT (2007–2012) On 6 March 2007, it was announced that Monteiro would join the