Minardi

Full name	Minardi F1 Team
Base	Faenza,  Italy
Founder/s	Giancarlo Minardi
Notable staff	Paul Stoddart
Notable drivers	Pierluigi Martini Fernando Alonso Mark Webber Giancarlo Fisichella Jarno Trulli
Formula One World Championship Career
Engines	Motori Moderni, Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Hart, Fondmetal, European, Asiatech, Cosworth
Debut	1985 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races competed	345
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Final race	2005 Chinese Grand Prix

Minardi is an automobile racing team and constructor founded in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a small but loyal following of fans. In 2001, to save the team from folding, Minardi sold it to Australian businessman Paul Stoddart, who ran the team for five years before selling it on to Red Bull in 2005. The team was then renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso, Italian for Team Red Bull.

During its time in F1, the team scored a total of 38 championship points (although under the modern points system this number would almost quadruple). Just under half of these were taken by the team's first driver, Pierluigi Martini. Martini also recorded the team's only front row start and actually led a lap during a heroic performance in 1989. In spite of this, the team never achieved a podium finish in its history, only managing a best place of 4th three times: Martini twice in 1991 and Christian Fittipaldi in 1993.

Origins

The Minardi family has a longstanding involvement in motorsport. The family has run a Fiat dealership since 1927. Giovanni Minardi competed in his own cars in the late 1940s and after his death his son Giancarlo took over the racing part of the family business. He ran customer cars in Formula Two under various names from 1972 to 1979 — even briefly running a customer Formula One Ferrari 312T as Scuderia Everest in 1976 — before gaining financial backing from well known Italian motor racing patron Piero Mancini in 1979 to set up the Minardi racing team as a constructor.^[1]

Racing History

Formula Two (1980–1984)

The Minardi team first competed under that name in the 1980 European Formula Two championship. Rather than using a customer chassis, the team commissioned a BMW powered design from Giacomo Caliri's FLY studios — previously responsible for the Fittipaldi Automotive team's F5A Formula One car.^[2] Giancarlo led the Minardi team to four moderately successful Formula Two seasons with a variety of young Italian and South American drivers, including Alessandro Nannini and Johnny Cecotto. The team's most notable result being a 1981 win at the Misano round by Michele Alboreto.<ref name = "GrandPrix.com" /> Minardi left the lower division at the end of 1984, although in 1986 a modified version of their final Formula Two car, the 283, was entered without success in two rounds of the Formula 3000 championship which had replaced Formula Two in 1985.^[3]

Minardi Formula One (1985–1993)

During 1984, Minardi took the decision to enter Formula One the following year. Caliri designed the team's prototype Formula One car (intended as a dual purpose design for the new Formula 3000) around Alfa Romeo's V8 turbocharged engine but when engineer Carlo Chiti left Alfa Romeo to found Motori Moderni, Minardi became the only customer for his new V6 engine design. The engine was not ready for the start of the 1985 season, so the team converted their M85 chassis to accept a Cosworth DFV engine for the first two races. The single car team was unsuccessful in its first year, scoring no points. The new engine was underpowered and driver Pierluigi Martini finished only two races, although he was also classified 11th at the German Grand Prix despite stopping with engine problems.^[4]

Nonetheless, the team expanded to two cars for the 1986 season. There was little success initially competing with Motori Moderni until 1987 and then Cosworth engines. The team picked up in competitiveness and by 1989 had become top entrant for Pirelli's return to Formula One. The team were moderately successful in the midfield through the early 1990s, giving a succession of Italian drivers their first chance at the top level, including Alessandro Nannini, Pierluigi Martini and Gianni Morbidelli. Martini in particular was synonymous with the team, eventually having three spells with the team. He drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the 1988 USA Grand Prix, took their only front-row start at 1990 USA Grand Prix (aided by special Pirelli tyres; several of their other drivers had surprise qualifying results that day), their only lap leading a race in the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and scored their joint-best F1 result of 4th.

Minardi, Scuderia Italia and Fondmetal (1994–2000)

Through the mid-1990s the team was the nucleus around which the community of Italian Formula One constructors collapsed. It was the first team in modern times to make use of engines from Ferrari in 1991 and later used Lamborghini V12s for a season. As the number of small teams shrank, Minardi slipped from the mid-field towards the back of the grid. Money woes hit and in 1994 Minardi joined his team with Scuderia Italia in an effort to survive. Giancarlo retained 14.5% with the remaining 15.5% distributed between the Scuderia Italia investors (Emilio Gnutti, Giuseppe Lucchini and Vittorio Palazzani) and Defendente Marniga. The Minardi team was then controlled by Flavio Briatore. In 1996 Italian businessman Gabriele Rumi, former owner of the Fondmetal team switched his sponsorship support from Tyrrell to Minardi. He would gradually increased his interest in the Faenza outfit, becoming co-owner and chairman. For the 2000 season the team were forced to use 1998-spec Ford Zetec-R V10 engines, which were rebadged as Fondmetal engines in deference to his financial input. However, Rumi had contracted cancer, and was forced to withdraw his backing in 2000.

European Minardi (2001–2005)

The team, near collapse, was purchased by Australian businessman Paul Stoddart in early 2001, merging it with his European Racing Formula 3000 team. During its final years, the Minardi team was almost as famous for its politics as its racing. Stoddart was described as the Formula One teams' unofficial shop steward. During his time as team principal, Stoddart campaigned for reduced costs in the sport. He appealed to the competing car manufacturers for an agreement where the independent (and, on the whole, financially weaker) teams in Formula One would get cheaper engine deals than at present. In return, the team principals who would benefit from this would support the works teams when it came to opposing new rule changes enforced by the FIA, such as the proposed ban on traction control.

Before the start of the 2004 season, he threatened to withdraw his support against the ban on traction control, but later withdrew this threat. Before the 2005 Australian Grand Prix Stoddart initially threatened to withdraw his cars if they were made to comply with the revised regulations for 2005. Stoddart claimed that Minardi could not afford to adapt their cars. Once again Stoddart ended up withdrawing his threat. Stoddart has also repeatedly called for the resignation of the FIA's President, Max Mosley, particularly in the aftermath of the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

One of Minardi's most famous performances came at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. It was Australian driver Mark Webber's first Formula One race. At his and Stoddart's home grand prix he brought the car home in fifth place to score two World Championship points — a rare occurrence for Minardi.



Minardi was represented in 2004 by two rookies, Italian Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner. During the year, they celebrated their 20th season in F1. Baumgartner scored Minardi's first point in more than 2 years at the United States Grand Prix, finishing 8th (only 8 cars finished the 2004 USGP). Baumgartner was also the first Hungarian to score a point in a World Championship F1 race.



In 2005, Minardi's drivers were Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher. They amassed a comparatively astronomical total of 7 points following the debacle of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, in which they finished fifth and sixth (of six runners) respectively. After his sponsors stopped paying him before the 2005 German Grand Prix, Patrick Friesacher was to be replaced by Dutch Jordan test driver Robert Doornbos to create the first ever all-Dutch driver line-up in Formula One history.

Before Minardi's demise, they were a particularly well-liked team on the Formula One circuit for many reasons. In the paddock, they were noted for their friendliness, accessibility, and lack of corporate culture (they were universally regarded as having the best espresso in F1). On the track, their cars were regarded by many as well-designed for their tiny budget, their lowly position more a function of lack of funds (and engine power) rather than a necessarily poor car. They also resisted employing pay-drivers more so than most other financially strapped teams, producing an impressive alumni including Grand Prix winners Alessandro Nannini, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and current World Champion Fernando Alonso. It has also provided drives for IndyCar winners Christian Fittipaldi and Alex Zanardi.

Heads of Minardi F1

• Owners
• 1985–2000 Giancarlo Minardi
• 1996 Flavio Briatore — co-owned
• 1996–2000 Gabriele Rumi — co-owned
• 2001–2005 Paul Stoddart
• Technical Directors
• 1985–1988 Giacomo Caliri
• 1989–1995 Aldo Costa
• 1996–1998 Gabriele Tredozi
• 1999–2000 Gustav Brunner
• 2001–2005 Gabriele Tredozi

Red Bull purchase

Paul Stoddart stated that he would sell Minardi if he could find the right buyer. Stoddart claimed that he had 41 approaches.^[5] His criteria for a sale was the ability of a buyer to move the team forward and leave the team based in Faenza. The drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which already owns another Formula One team, Red Bull Racing, decided to set up a second team to promote American drivers that have risen through its young driver programme, Red Bull Driver Search.

Ending several weeks of speculation on September 10 2005 Red Bull announced it would take control of Minardi in November and run it as their "rookie team" from 2006.^[6] Crucially for the future of Formula One after the current Concorde agreement expires, the purchase of Minardi by Dietrich Mateschitz gives another supporter for maintenance of the current series.

Minardi fans worldwide immediately started an online petition^[7] to save the Minardi team name and the team's 20-year heritage in F1 after the news broke. The petition was not successful and it was announced that Minardi would be re-named as the Squadra Toro Rosso team for 2006, later changing that further to become Scuderia Toro Rosso. This simply means Red Bull Team in Italian.

Racing return for Minardi

Giancarlo Minardi and Paul Stoddart are both making use of the Minardi name in new motorsports ventures. On January 30 2006, Giancarlo Minardi announced that he had bought back the rights to use the Minardi name in racing from Paul Stoddart. He also announced a partnership in the junior Euro Formula 3000 series with established team GP Racing — to be entitled 'Minardi Team by GP racing'.^[8] The team have raced with moderate success to date, scoring a podium in each leg of the Spa round in June 2006.^[9] On 3 October, it was announced that Minardi would combine forces with the Piquet Sports team in the GP2 Series for 2007.^[10] This is because Nelson Angelo Piquet has graduated from the series, and the team bearing his name is no longer needed to advance his career.

On March 28 2006, Paul Stoddart declared his intention to enter a Formula One team under the title 'European Minardi F1 team Ltd' for the 2008 Formula One World Championship. His application was unsuccessful, as Minardi was beaten to the position by David Richards' Prodrive outfit.^[11] On November 3, Stoddart announced that he expects to run a team in the U.S. based Champ Car series next season. Stoddart told Reuters that it was "almost a certainty that Minardi will be in Champ Car in 2007." On December 18, it was confirmed that Paul Stoddart had purchased the controlling interest in the CTE Racing-HVM Champ Car team and that the team would be renamed Minardi Team USA.^[12] Stoddart retains the right to use the Minardi name as a British-registered company.

Complete Formula One results

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Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Points	WCC
1985	M185	Ford DFV V8, Motori Moderni V6-Turbo	P		BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS				0	12th
				Pierluigi Martini	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	8
1986	M185B M186	Motori Moderni V6-Turbo	P		BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS				0	12th
				Andrea de Cesaris	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret
				Alessandro Nannini	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	NC	14	Ret
1987	M186B M187	Motori Moderni V6-Turbo	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS				0	14th
				Adrián Campos	DSQ	Ret	Ret	DNS	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Alessandro Nannini	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	16	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
1988	M188	Ford DFZ V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS				1	10th
				Adrián Campos	Ret	16	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Pierluigi Martini						6	15	15	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	7
				Luis Perez-Sala	Ret	11	Ret	11	13	Ret	NC	Ret	DNQ	10	DNQ	Ret	8	12	15	Ret
1989	M188B M189	Ford DFR V8	P		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS				6	11th
				Pierluigi Martini	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	9	Ret	9	7	5	Ret		6
				Paolo Barilla															Ret
				Luis Perez-Sala	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	6	DNQ	Ret	15	8	12	Ret	Ret	DNQ
1990	M189B M190	Ford DFR V8	P		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS				0	13th
				Pierluigi Martini	7	9	DNS	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	Ret	11	Ret	8	9
				Paolo Barilla	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	DNQ	14	DNQ	12	Ret	15	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Gianni Morbidelli															Ret	Ret
1991	M191	Ferrari 037 V12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS				6	7th
				Pierluigi Martini	9	Ret	4	12	7	Ret	9	9	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	4	13	Ret	Ret
				Gianni Morbidelli	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	11	Ret	13	Ret	9	9	14	Ret
				Roberto Moreno																16
1992	M191B M191L M192	Lamborghini 3512 V12	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS				1	12th
				Christian Fittipaldi	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	8	13	DNQ				DNQ	DNQ	12	6	9
				Alessandro Zanardi									DNQ	Ret	DNQ
				Gianni Morbidelli	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	8	17	12	DNQ	16	Ret	14	14	10
1993	M193	Ford HBC6 V8	G		RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS				7	8th
				Christian Fittipaldi	4	Ret	7	Ret	8	5	9	8	12	11	Ret	Ret	8	9
				Jean-Marc Gounon															Ret	Ret
				Fabrizio Barbazza	Ret	Ret	6	6	Ret	11	Ret	Ret
				Pierluigi Martini									Ret	14	Ret	Ret	7	8	10	Ret
1994	M193B M194	Ford HBC7/8 V8	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS				5	10th
				Pierluigi Martini	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	9	5	10	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	12	15	Ret	9
				Michele Alboreto	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	9	Ret	13	14	Ret	Ret
1995	M195	Ford EDM V8	G		BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS			1	10th
				Pierluigi Martini	Ret	Ret	12	14	7	Ret	Ret	7	Ret
				Pedro Lamy										9	10	Ret	Ret	9	13	11	6
				Luca Badoer	Ret	DNS	14	Ret	Ret	8	13	10	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	14	11	15	9	Ret
1996	M195B	Ford EDM2 V8, Ford EDM3 V8	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN				0	10th
				Pedro Lamy	Ret	10	Ret	12	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	12	Ret	10	Ret	16	12
				Giancarlo Fisichella	Ret			13	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	11
				Tarso Marques		Ret	Ret
				Giovanni Lavaggi											Ret	10	DNQ	Ret	15	DNQ
1997	M197	Hart 830 AV7 V8	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR			0	11th
				Jarno Trulli	9	12	9	DNS	Ret	15	Ret
				Tarso Marques								Ret	10	Ret	12	Ret	14	EX	Ret	Ret	15
				Ukyo Katayama	Ret	18	Ret	11	10	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	10	14	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	17
1998	M198	Ford JD Zetec-R V10	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	LUX	JPN				0	10th
				Shinji Nakano	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	14	9	7	17	8	11	Ret	15	8	Ret	15	Ret
				Esteban Tuero	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	15	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	Ret
1999	M01	Ford VJM1 Zetec-R V10, Ford VJM2 Zetec-R V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	EUR	MAL	JPN				1	10th
				Luca Badoer	Ret		8	Ret	Ret	10	10	Ret	13	10	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Stéphane Sarrazin		Ret
				Marc Gené	Ret	9	9	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	15	11	9	17	16	Ret	6	9	Ret
2000	M02	Fondmetal V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	GBR	ESP	EUR	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	MAL			0	10th
				Marc Gené	8	Ret	Ret	14	14	Ret	Ret	16	15	8	Ret	15	14	9	12	Ret	Ret
				Gastón Mazzacane	Ret	10	13	15	15	8	Ret	12	Ret	12	11	Ret	17	10	Ret	15	13
2001	PS01 PS01B	European V10	M		AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			0	11th
				Tarso Marques	Ret	14	9	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	15	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Alex Yoong															Ret	Ret	16
				Fernando Alonso	12	13	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	17	16	10	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	11
2002	PS02	Asiatech AT02 V10	M		AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	FRA	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			2	9th
				Alex Yoong	7	Ret	13	DNQ	DNS	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	DNQ	10	DNQ			13	Ret	Ret
				Anthony Davidson													Ret	Ret
				Mark Webber	5	Ret	11	11	DNS	12	11	11	15	Ret	8	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	10
2003	PS03	Cosworth CR-3 V10	B		AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	ITA	USA	JPN				0	10th
				Justin Wilson	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	13	Ret	Ret	13	14	16
				Nicolas Kiesa												12	13	12	11	16
				Jos Verstappen	11	13	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	9	14	16	15	Ret	12	Ret	10	15
2004	PS04B	Cosworth CR-3L V10	B		AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA		1	10th
				Gianmaria Bruni	Ret	14	17	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	18	16	17	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	16	17
				Zsolt Baumgartner	Ret	16	Ret	15	Ret	9	15	10	8	Ret	Ret	16	15	Ret	15	16	Ret	16
2005	PS04B PS05	Cosworth TJ2005 V10	B		AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	BRA	JPN	CHN	7	10th
				Christijan Albers	Ret	13	13	Ret	Ret	14	17	11	5	Ret	18	13	NC	Ret	19	12	14	16	16
				Patrick Friesacher	17	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	18	Ret	6	Ret	19
				Robert Doornbos												18	Ret	13	18	13	Ret	14	14

See also

• List of Formula One constructors

References

External links

• Minardi's new official website
• Chequered Flag Motorsports's article on Minardi's F1 history
• Formula Two championship results
• Officially Sanctioned Minardi Fan Club in San Francisco

•  • [ e] Minardi
Formula One cars: M185 | M185B | M186 | M187 | M188 | M188B | M189 | M190 | M191 | M192 | M193 | M193B | M194 | M195 | M195B | M197 | M198 | M01 | M02 | PS01 | PS02 | PS03 | PS04B | PS05

•  • [ e] Formula One Constructors

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