Archive for category: News

“We are only in the first week of testing and the times recorded have not yet given us a realistic ranking, as we saw with the best times by Renault on the SuperSoft tyres (1’17″393 with Hulkenberg) and Toro Rosso (Albon 1’17″637) against the1’17″8 of Mercedes and Ferrari’s 1’18″0 with the medium mix.”

These were the first comments by Gian Carlo Minardi after the first four days of collective testing on Barcelona’s Montmelò circuit that inaugurated the F1 World Championship season have been filed away.

“Those under special observation were surely the current world champion, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari. Toto Wolff’s men retraced last season’s programme with a number of different trials aimed at development, just as the team with the prancing horse has not yet looked for performance”.

The new racing cars ran the first kilometres and they have already shown important reliability as shown by the laps run. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took the titles of the workaholics with 610 laps on their account, in front of the Ferrari duo Vettel-Leclerc that completed 598 laps.”

“An important signal comes from the very many kilometres covered by all the teams, with the exception of Williams over which we should draw a veil. It is inconceivable that such a successful team threw away two days of tests. I hope that they can make up the time lost next week.”

Third place for Alfa Romeo Racing thanks to the work by Raikonnen and Giovinazzi who completed 507 laps against the 482 by Toro Rosso’s pair Kvyat-Albon and the 475 by Verstappen-Gasly, both with Honda engines.

“The other fact that came out was how the forces on the field have come closer together. It will be a great battle between Mercedes-Ferrari-Red Bull and a tight battle between Renault-Toto Rosso-Alfa Romeo and Haas. The times are already very close to the best in 2018. This means that in a short time the engineers have already managed to recover part of the aerodynamic load lost with the new regulations.

“Each team knows exactly its potential and especially its position depending on the fuel on board. Next week we will have more significant results in the light of the weekend in Melbourne,” concluded the manager from Faenza.

The drivers and cars will be back on the Montmelò track next week from February 26 to March 1 before flying to Australia for the season’s first grand prix.

2019 will be a crucial year for many grands prix in the F1 calendar in which Liberty Media’s contract is due to expire and the renewal promises to be long and hard. On the one hand the promoters say they are disappointed and worried about the future caused by the very high costs for hosting a grand prix.

Recently 16 of the 21 organizers met in London to discuss the current situation and to form the Formula One Promoter’s Association that expressly shut the door on Liberty Media to revising the contracts downwards.

On the other side of the barricade F1 boss Chase Carey waved a heavy fist by giving the impression of not wanting to step back. “We will change what we are doing”.

As we know from the Monza contract that will expire at the end of 2019 and despite last season’s record attendance with 185,000 spectators over the three days, the circuit reported a deficit of 12 million Euros. Other circuits are also in the same conditions, like Silverstone what in 2018 brought in more than 300,000 fans and finished in the red anyway. The news of recent days that from next year the organizers of the Mexico Grand Prix will not have public financing puts its presence in the next seasons at serious risk.

There is general disquiet that involves nearly 70% of the circuits,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi who we interviewed, “Many contracts are about to expire both on the circuit and the TV fronts, just like the Concord Agreement. This is a serious time because the teams will struggle to revise downwards the requests in consideration of the continual increases of management costs but Liberty Media is in difficulty with the circuits and the TV with the sponsors asking that the races return to free to air,” continued the manager from Faenza.

“In the ten days of the grand prix F1 manages to generate a volume of about 100 million and losing the race would mean causing major damage to the spin offs that cannot be recovered with another event. I saw it personally when Imola lost its grand prix. However this volume of business does not interest the circuit that with the current contract has only the tickets sales as the sole source of income. This is decidedly too little to cover the enormous expenses for hosting the race. Let’s not forget that the circuits are constantly called upon to make huge investments on the structures”,

“Losing a grand prix means causing great economic damage but it is also true that we cannot continue in these conditions. I have faith in the work by President Angelo Sticchi Damiani who in recent years managed to save the Italian Grand Prix but something must change. We cannot keep organizing an event that is constantly losing money,” concluded Gian Carlo Minardi.

On Monday evening the indiscretion by the Gazzetta dello Sport was confirmed in Scuderia Ferrari’s official press release that announced that a month before the presentation of the new Ferrari, and two before the start of the world championship, the change between Maurizio Arrivabene and Mattia Binotto in the role of Team Principle.

We met Gian Carlo Minardi who positively commented the exchange. “I fully agree with Ferrari’s decision since I have a lot of faith in Mattia Binotto as a technician and the results confirmed it. He comes from the Ross Brawn school that gave Ferrari incredible results together with Todt and Schumacher, before going on to win the world championship first with Jenson Button with the Brown GP and laying the foundations for Mercedes’ incredible successes.”

“I do not believe the changes are over and the next two weeks will be crucial, It seems like a retur to the past and the Domenicali era with Massimo Rivola who is now with Aprilia. IN addition, the arrival of Laurent Mekies is a very positive signal and he could be an important partner in the role of Sporting Director. I know Laurent very well since he comes from the Minardi School before oging to Toro Rosso and then to the FIA. He knows the Federation’s regulations and environment and this is a good sign for the future.”

Binotoo will be called for a role that will be full of new developments as he will also have to manage the drivers, “He will have a specific and not easy commitment of managing Sebastian Vettel who has to be recovered after a complicated season and who will have to find the strength to set aside 2018’s negativity”

On Sunday at Abu Dhabi Fernando Alonso will race his final Formula 1 Grand Prix after his debut in 2001 with Minardi, a 17 year career, 2 world championships and three just missed. From 2019 the Spanish driver will write a new chapter by chasing the 500 Miles of Indianapolis.

The last few years with McLaren gave little satisfaction and did not give the results he had hoped for and which he would have deserved but compliments were not lacking from colleagues and others who work in the Circus. We wanted to talk on the telephone with the man who brought Fernando Alonso to the Formula 1 Circus, Gian Carlo Minardi.

“I was present at his first test with Minardi in 1999 after his win in the Nissan World Series, at his first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2001, again with Minardi, but I will not be present at Abu Dhabi because I am convinced it will not be his last Grand Prix. The race at the Emirates will only be a see you later,” commented the manager from Faenza.

“I wish him the best of luck in his next challenge and I tell him to enjoy himself since he still has a lot to give and receive from this sport,” concluded Minardi.

It was another podium for Karol Basz who, together with Vito Postiglione, on the track at Mugello put his mark on his second race at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the final round of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship.

On the demanding Tuscan track the Polish driver followed by Minardi Management took third place in race-2 under the driving rain that conditioned the entire race that began behind the safety car since during all the weekend the drivers never had the chance to race in these difficult conditions.

It was an important result for the Imperiale Racing standard bearer who, starting as leader, on next November 17-18 at the Vallelunga track will take part in the key round of the Super Trofeo Lamborghini season with the sixth and final round of the European season.

In qualifying Karol took the front row authoritatively thanks to the second best time and he finished the day with fifth place in race-1. At the start Vito Postiglione quickly climbed up two positions confirming second place up to the pit stop but the time penalty took the Lambo number 16 back to seventh place. Karol was very skilled and fast to take back the positions lost, climbing up to fifth place and finishing amongst the Imperiale Team’s best drivers.

“We are very happy with the work carried out by Karol all weekend. It was only his second experience in GT3 and he gave the answers we expected, he just missed out on pole position and once again reached the podium. Compared to Monza the weekend was even more important which gives us good hopes for 2019- Now we will get to work ahead of Vallelunga,” commented managers Giovanni Minardi and Alberto Tonti.

“The race was very hard since visibility very poor at the start but with every lap the feeling improved. At one point of the race we were even the fastest on the track. I am very happy with the podium and our rhythm. It was another great result in the light of next season,” commented a satisfied Karol Basz.

This weekend Karol Basz, leader of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa together with Vito Postiglione, will return to the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for the final round of the Italian Gran Turisimo Championship.

After his excellent debut at Monza the Polish driver followed by Minardi Management will once again team with Vito Postiglione on the demanding Tuscan track at the wheel of the Imperiale Racing number 16 supercar from the Sant’Agata Bolognese factory to run up more kilometres and gain experience with the powerful GT3 car ahead of next season.

“We are very happy to race once more with the Lamborghini GT3 as this will be our next challenge in 2019 and for this reason we thank all the Imperiale team and Ivano for this new opportunity after the excellent weekend at Monza and to show once again how fast Karol is”, commented managers Giovanni Minardi and Alberto Tonti

“I am very happy with the new invitation from Imperiale Racing. This is a confirmation of the good work carried out up till now. At Monza we climbed up on the podium twice and I hope to be able to fight it out for top position at Mugello as well. It will surely not be an easy weekend due to the penalty we will have to pay in the pit stop. I know the track very well and I will concentrate on the car right from the start” commented a satisfied Karol.

The first of the two races that will close the season will start on Saturday afternoon at 2.05pm, whereas on Sunday race-2 will begin at 2.00pm. It will be broadcast direct on Rai Sport and in streaming on acisport.it.