Davide Rigon, from Silverstone to Spa-Francorchamps

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Six hundred and forty Kilometres separate Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, location of the second round of FIA World Endurance Championship. Fifteen days after the inaugural race on the British historical circuit and the first point scored, Davide Rigon is ready to return on Ferrari 458 GTE #71 and continue his adventure in the World Championship alongside AF Corse.

Strengthened by the fifth place and by a weekend with no mistakes, despite the rain that has influenced the final result, the talented driver from Veneto is determined to improve its ranking by focusing firmly on the podium. “The weekend at Silverstone was positive, even if we were expecting something more in terms of final result”, Davide Rigon comments. “In qualifications we missed the top 3 for a tenth – the best result we could point to – contenting ourselves, however, with a good fourth place. In the race, both my teammate and I have not committed any mistake, despite the difficult conditions dictated by the rain, which came during the race. In hindsight we delayed the pit-stop too much, bringing this gap with us until the end of the sixth hour of race”, Davide continues. “Coming from two successful seasons, Ferrari has suffered the balance against Porsche”.

The mind has already turned to the next challenge and the Ardennes circuit should be more favorable for the car of Maranello, especially in dry conditions, although Spa is famous for its unpredictable weather, and not only for its charm. “The track is absolutely fantastic and racing here is always exciting. The ups and downs and the curves give you an adrenaline rush like no other track. Compared to Silverstone, Ferrari should be favoured, even if we suffer a bit in wet conditions”, the driver from Veneto concludes.

The weekend will unroll from Friday, with two free practice sessions and Qualifying, which will determine the starting grid for the 6-hour race scheduled on Saturday, May 3 from 2.30 pm onwards.

Minardi-Senna, a pair broken too son

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Twenty years have passed already since that tragic 1st May of 1999, when the “Grim Reaper” ripped out the life of that amazing Brazilian driver that was Ayrton Senna.

Minardi Team – a springboard for many champions – should have hosted the last great season of Ayrton. Yes, Senna and Gian Carlo Minardi have always been tied by a sincere friendship and mutual esteem, whose origins are rooted before the arrival in F1. The first to reveal Ayrton’s will to end his career in the World Championship driving a Minardi has been his father, Milton Da Silva: “After the fifth World Championship Title, Ayrton would have joined the team of Faenza. Unfortunately, the destiny has prevented him to do so”. Ayrton and his father often “sought refuge” in the Faenza motor-home to dine with a good typical meal from Emilia-Romagna (the region where Faenza is based). Gian Carlo Minardi comments: “If the father had not revealed this story, it certainly would not have come out from me. It would have been just as cheating on a friend”.

The first contact with Senna came in 1982, with the Brazilian involved in Formula Ford and Minardi in F2 with his team. “Paolo Barilla noted him, driving in Kart races, and during the Hockenheim weekend invited the young Senna for a dinner at the hotel. I offered him up to 50 million of Lire to join us in F2, but Ayrton politely refused”. Already in those years, Ayrton had clear ideas on his route, which included winning the first title in Formula 1 World Championship in 1988. “He thanked me very kindly as I was the first to offer him some money to drive, rather than asking him for. Since that day, in conjunction of F2 and Formula Ford races, Senna came back again in our motor-home to dine with us, keeping a good relationship with us”.

Once arrived in Formula 1, Senna and Minardi and continue a positive exchange of ideas both inside and outside the paddock. “I often received his calls from Brazil and we talked on the phone for several hours. During the GP he often came to dine with us ‘secretly’. At the beginning of 1993, due to an almost worn relationship with McLaren, he had decided to join us and drive for Minardi, but I convinced him to avoid such a risky choice, giving the existence of an open contract with his team. After this episode, he signed the famous ‘1 million dollars per race’ contract: perhaps that year he played his most beautiful and fierce season”, the manager of Faenza goes on.

“The last exchange of ideas took place in Aida, fifteen days before Imola’s tragic event, when he asked my opinion on some facts and episodes that were occurring in his life, inside and outside the paddock”.

Only the cruel fate prevented Senna to keep his promise made to Gian Carlo a few years before, that could have changed the history of a small but glorious team: with its 21 years of Formula 1 and 340 GPs, Minardi Team has contributed to write a good slice of the history of this sport, playing as a springboard for drivers like Alonso, Fisichella, Trulli, Webber, Martini, Genè, Morbidelli, Nannini and many others. “History is not made by ifs and buts, ‘what could have happened’ actually counts nothing. Certainly, with Ayrton Senna in our team, relationships with various technical suppliers would have changed… With His experience and charisma, the Team could certainly have had a non-predictable evolution. Every time we met he reaffirmed his will to join us: this mere thought filled my heart with pride”, Minardi underlines.

From 1st to 4th May, Imola will celebrate the memory of Ayrton Senna e Roland Ratzenberger; the Minardi ’94 of Martini e Alboreto will be part of the tribute exhibition. Also, the colours of Team Minardi by Pastina&Friends will animate the “Memorial Senna Kart 2014”, an endurance race of 7 hours.

China GP – Drivers' Scorecard

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The fourth GP of the season is over: Formula 1 is now coming to The Old Continent. Once again the Circus surprised us, with almost all cars arrived at finish – excepting Grosjean’s Lotus and Sutil’s Sauber: all teams are achieving extremely high reliability standards. Now they have just less than 3 weeks of intense work: I’m curious to see what will happen in Spain.

As far as now, Formula 1 deserves a good mark – I’d say a Seven – despite the scaremongering about audience decrease. There hadn’t been a F1 race in the Easter weekend for a long time: we cannot forget this aspect. Formula 1 started the season on a rising path, but it’s showing all its qualities very quickly and I’m sure that fights and battles will be back very soon.

Lewis Hamilton – 9 He would certainly deserve a 10, but with the car he’s driving we cannot give the highest mark. He did everything perfect, unlike his teammate.

Fernando Alonso – 9 He was the protagonist of a fantastic race and weekend, despite the F14-T still does not deserve the third step of the podium. From the 44th passage until finish he drove keeping a qualification pace, always pushing and trying to exploit the car at its best, unlike Kimi.

Nico Rosberg – 8 Since qualifications, he did some mistakes – being on the starting grid on the “dirty” side of the track – but then he was able to recover. Perhaps he suffered Hamilton’s pressure.

Daniel Ricciardo – 8 Well deserved for the race. Since the beginning of the season, he’s been showing qualities that I did not imagine: he really deserves to be rewarded.

Kimi Raikkonen – 7 He’s going through a difficult moment, perhaps suffering the troubles of Team Ferrari.

Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, Daniil Kvyat e Romain Grosjean – 7 In particular for the Lotus driver, for his performance until his car abandoned him.

Sebastian Vettel – 6 An encouraging vote, for the unhappy moment he’s going through.

China GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

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Mercedes supremacy has been reasserted, but the factor making this Formula 1 more and more exciting is what’s going among the other drivers and cars. At present, it’s not possible to make any previsions: after each GP, it’s much likely to be proved wrong rather than to be confirmed.

The first two places are reserved for Hamilton and Rosberg, but the game is open for the third step of the podium and for second and third places in Constructors’ Championship. At this moment, Mercedes – unless a debacle – is unbeatable: watching their camera-car is simply amazing.

The result of Ferrari imposes a reflection: no doubt, they really have the top driver. Alonso was the protagonist of a fantastic race, finished with the first podium of the season for Maranello’s Team. From the 44th passage, he drove 12 laps with a gap on only 4 tenth of a second, keeping a qualification pace. He’s the one who can really make the difference, obtaining last weekend a result that otherwise would have been very difficult. Maranello’s car has made significant improvements regarding consumption, and we start appreciating the results of the intense work with Shell. As already said at the beginning of the World Championship, fuel will be a permanent key issue this year. The merit of this podium goes to Alonso and Stefano Domenicali, who had the strength to step aside in a difficult situation.

China GP enlightened strong hierarchies within teams. Hamilton conquered the third consecutive victory, even though Rosberg is still leading the World Championship. Regarding Ferrari, I’ve never considered the chance that Fernando could suffer in the “internal” battle with Raikkonen – no offence for the Finn; the same is not true for Red Bull, where Sebastian Vettel is experiencing some troubles in the competition with the teammate. Ricciardo has proved to have a better control over Pirelli tyres and Renault power-unit. We also start observing a nervous attitude of Vettel, who did not take well the communication from the team. Force India is keeping the third place in Constructors’ Championship, with Hulkenberg closing in 6th position after the two Red Bull, restoring his internal leadership with Perez. Once again we watched a good performance of Toro Rosso’s Russian pilot, who is taking the reins of Faenza’s team.

Bad luck for Felipe Massa and Williams with that rear wheel problems during his first pit stop, throwing away all the work done on Saturday and in the first laps of the race. He could certainly have engaged a battle with “Hulk”, causing maybe some problems to Vettel too. At Williams, they have to do a careful reflection to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

In three weeks Formula 1 is coming to Europe: three weeks in which everything can happen. We’ll see which teams will achieve the best results regarding further developments and improvements of the cars. We’ll arrive in Spain with Red Bull-Force India-Ferrari comprised within 5 points only.

Four aces for Bhai Tech in Blancpain Sprint Series

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New year, new challenge. After dominating the scene of International GT Open, achieving the Team and Pilots titles with Giorgio Pantano, for Bhai Tech Team it’s now time for a new and exciting challenge in Blancpain Sprint Series.

Eleven teams and forty pilots are participating to this championship: the Racing division of the Bhai Tech Advanced Vehicle Science Centre (based in Mestrino, Padova – Italy) will be this weekend on the starting grid of Nogaro (France) with its McLaren MP4-12C GT3 and a new group of drivers with high experience.

Together with the champion Giorgio Pantano, for the second season at Bhai Tech Team, we’ll see the young GP2 driver Fabio Onidi (from Milan, born in 1988) – for a completely Italian pair – whereas the second car will be put into the hands of two young talents: Sten Pentus from Estonia – born in 1981, with a past experience in WSR 3.5 – and the 22-year-old British driver Daniel Lloyd, ready to take the next big step into the international scene.

“After the success of last season, this year we intend to perform an even more competitive championship, with top-level drivers and teams”, Giorgio Pantano comments. “Last year I took the necessary steps with McLaren MP4-12C and with the GT world, and I won the title. We are back to aim high and, from free practice, I’ll do my best to realize all the work done in 2013”, the young talented driver from Veneto goes on, introducing also the new teammate Onidi. “Fabio is a very fast driver and I’m really happy to share the McLaren cockpit with him. Together we make an amazing pair”, the ex-F1 pilot concludes.

The goals have been defined: Bhai Tech Team will try to repeat the successes of last season, in a championship made of seven races, from France to Azerbaijan, touching Great Britain (Brands Hatch), The Netherlands (Zandvoort), Slovakia (Slovakia Ring), Portugal (Algarve) and Belgium (Zolder). On a stage that will host the competition of the major constructors, the “Fantastic Four” – Pantano, Onidi, Pentus, Lloyd – are determined to bring home a new title, counting also on the cutting edge full-motion 6-DOF driving simulator, which is situated in the Bhai Tech suite.

China GP – PREVIEW

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As we know, the days leading to China GP have been “shaked” by the sudden and quick decision at Ferrari’s, with the resignation of Stefano Domenicali. Sincerely, I didn’t expect he would have done such a thing so quickly and at this point of the season. Stefano is a friend and a person I regard with a special esteem: beside this, in 23 years spent at Maranello he has worked as a good manager, bringing an active contribution to the growth of the team. In order to shake things up in such a critical season, he decided to stand up for it, personally.

He will be replaced as team principal by Marco Mattiacci, who will have to face and solve many problems and issues, also speaking in terms of human resources: he’ll certainly need to reset the situation. He has never been involved in the Formula 1 World Championship, and this may be of help in taking this decision: nonetheless, the context is not easy at all, with the Chinese weekend of race – where last year Fernando Alonso triumphed – quickly approaching. Now we just have to see how the whole team will react to this changing of the guard.

The Circus is coming to Shanghai, on a track of 5,451 Km with a straight of 1,3 Km, which does not entail a particular stress on the braking system, though last year Pirelli tyres struggled with heavy greening. This year the Italian constructor will make available two types of compounds, P ZERO WHITE MEDIUM and P ZERO YELLOW SOFT, which involve a difference of more than 1’’. Therefore, strategies become very important: last year,Fernando scored a success for Ferrari  with a strategy of 3 stops.

Last race in Bahrain was only 15 days ago: I don’t think there will be surprises regarding winners. I expect a great Hamilton-Rosberg fight again, especially if the team keeps leaving them “free”. It becomes interesting to see who will be able to get on the third step of the podium: the competition will be among the teams with a Mercedes engine, Force India and Williams above all. The beauty of Formula 1 is also the fact that a team with limited resources – such as Force India – can compete for a high ranking, with the goal of scoring as much points as possible.

For McLaren this is a transition year, given the change to Honda power-unit in 2015. We certainly have to keep an eye on the Red Bull of Vettel & Ricciardo, which remains the car with the best chassis: they could show their potential precisely in the mixed stretch, loosing something in the long straight. The Achilles’ heel remains the Renault power-unit and those 40 hp Horner is still asking for.

Now, let’s go to China, with the hope to see a Ferrari competing for the second place soon.

FIA WEC, kick-off in Silverstone for Davide Rigon

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The long wait is over: this weekend the curtain will be raised on the championship par excellence of the Endurance panorama, with the first race of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

A track of 5.891 metres and a 6-hours race on the historical British circuit of Silverstone – a location of the Formula 1 World Championship since the Fifties – will be the kick-off of the sporting season of Davide Rigon, driving the three-world title winner Ferrari Italia 458 GT #71, alongside the Amato Ferrari AF Corse. His goal is to be confirmed as a top driver at a worldwide level.

After winning in Shanghai, finishing second in Bahrain and Sao Paulo and finishing fourth in Fuji with 8Star Team, this year the talented driver from Veneto (Italy) will be an official pilot of Maranello Team.

“I can’t wait to be in Silverstone and begin this new adventure. We’ve been working very well during last winter and we’re determined to start the season on the right foot. There’s no need to remark that Ferrari 458 is an amazing car. With Team Amato Ferrari the feeling has been good since the beginning, the same with James. Considering the level of the participants, this will be a very competitive season, where the difference will be made by details”, Davide Rigon comments.

In this new adventure, composed by eight races – from Great Britain to Brazil, touching Spa-Francorchamps, 24 hours of Le Mans, Austin, Fuji, Shanghai e Sakhir – the 27-year-old pilot will drive the glorious 458 GTE-Pro with James Calado, ranked third in the 2013 GP2 Series.

“I’m really happy to have Davide Rigon in the Team, after last season’s experience with 8Star Team when he conquered the whole staff both at human and professional level. Our main goal will be to repeat the successes of last year, with the Manufacturer, Team and Pilot Titles”, Team Owen Amato Ferrari comments.

The spotlight will be turned on the WEC Championship with the first round of free practice, leading to Qualifying – on Saturday 19th April at 1 pm (Italian time) – to decide the starting grid of the “6 Hours”, in program on Sunday 20th April at 1 pm (Italian time).

EXCLUSIVE – BMW ready to come back in Formula 1

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After saying goodbye to The Circus in 2009 as constructor, BMW is ready to step back and return to Formula 1 as engine manufacturer.

Gian Carlo Minardi notices this piece of news on the website minardi.it. “The engine revolution that has marked this new era of Formula 1 has involved several engine manufactures, present and not present on the race field”, the manager from Faenza comments. “We’ve always affirmed that several constructors are testing these new power units, that will represent the future for standard cars, independently from their participation to the F1 World Championship. German rumour has it that a BMW Board of Directors has been fixed for the month of May to consider a coming back in F1 already for 2015. The promoter of this project is Steven Althaus, Director Brand Management BMW and Marketing Services BMW Group. A confirmation of BMW’s concrete will to evaluate future projects has been the continuous and steady presence of technicians, both in the pre-season testing and during the first races, gathering important information.

Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Honda (which entrance has been fixed long since for next year) might soon have a new competitor. “The entrance of the German engine manufacturer might be a breath of fresh air for this Formula 1, both from the technical and economical side, helping teams that – at present – are suffering a difficult situation. If the interest of a manufacturer such as BMW will be confirmed, this will be the answer to the technical choices adopted and the confirmation that F1 is and will be the World best expression of car racing”, the manager form Faenza concludes.

BMW’s history in Formula 1 World Championship is rooted in the 50s. In 1983, with Nelson Piquet driving Brabham-BMW Turbo, BMW was crowned World Champion, the first at the top in the new era of turbocharger. In that season, the successes for the German turbo power unit were four (three with Piquet and one with our Patrese).

More recently, they provided Williams with a power unit – from 2000 to 2005 – before acquiring team Sauber in 2006, renaming it BMW Sauber F1. Despite the success in 2008 in Canada with the Polish Robert Kubica – the first victory as constructor – they announced their withdrawal from the World Championship on 29th July, 2009. The structure was then acquired back by Peter Sauber.

Bahrain GP – Drivers’ Scorecard

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Before giving the marks to the protagonists of Sakhir, I ‘d like to say something in relation to the incident that involved the non-guilty driver of Sauber, Gutierrez, badly hit by Pastor Maldonado in the first corner. As we know, the delegates punished the Venezuelan Lotus driver with three points on his Super Licence and a five-place grid drop for the next race in China, besides the ten-second stop-and-go penalty during the race. Once again I’m astonished for the different parameters userd for judging and issuing penalties. If we compare the penalties given to Magnussen – for a millimetric contact in the Australian GP with Raikkonen – or to the non-guilty Ricciardo in Sepang, the mistake of Pastor is much heavier. Magnussen lost 2 points on his Super Licence, whereas Ricciardo paid with a stop-and-go and a ten-place grid drop for Bahrain – ten places that compromised the podium in Bahrain for the Red Bull pilot. Rules are still not clear and evaluations are too subjective. Now, I’m curious to see how a team will be able to replace a penalized driver with an untrained pilot…

But let’s skip to votes:

Lewis Hamilton – 9 A great fight with the teammate, keeping the show at a high level. Good job at start, overtaking his teammate in pole-position.

Nico Rosberg – 8,5 For the second time not a great performance at start. He will have to be careful, since starts could become fundamental for the final results, considering the huge advantage of Mercedes.

Daniel Ricciardo – 8.5 Amazing race, showing he’s not afraid at all of his teammate, who holds four World Champion titles. Despite all the penalties he had a great reaction: he’s the best surprise of this beginning of the season.

Sergio Perez – 8 He conquered on the field the third step of the podium, rescuing a not-too-happy beginning of the season.

Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas – 7 They brought both cars at finishing, scoring for Williams precious points that will count for the future.

Daniil Kvyat – 7 Even though he was soon out of the score-zone, he’s enhancing Toro Rosso’s name, overshadowing his teammate despite his young age.

Nico Hulkenberg – 6 A little down for all the weekend. He wasn’t able to answerback his teammate.

Sebastian Vettel – 6 He accomplished his mission, but he was a little nervous and not impeccable. It can happen, after four seasons at the top. With Massa he reached the limits of the regulations and fair play.

Fernando Alonso e Kimi Raikkonen – 6 An encouraging vote, as they couldn’t do better than they did.

Formula 1 – 8 For pleasing us with a great GP, with two Mercedes playing with each other. They wanted to make the race hot, but I think they perfectly knew Hamilton would have won. As already happened in other seasons, this year the issue is a team issue. The result of last Sunday is composed of 2 Mercedes, 2 Force India with – in between – 2 Red Bull, 2 Williams and 2 Ferrari. The fight will be most of all between teammates.

Bahrain GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

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As I said in the last days, in the usual GP-Preview Analysis, there’s no point to cry wolf at this moment of the season, facing such an important technical change. We need to give time to this Formula 1 to grow from a technical perspective. In just one week we have shifted from a Formula-Boredom to a Formula-Show, with overtakings and duels.

Formula 1 is amazing because it involves a lot of elements: technique, sporting regulations and pilots. It’s hard to give judgements since the track, from one weekend to the following, can prove wrong everyone, particularly this year. Let’s just think to the situation during Bahrain tests: I expect forward changes in China, not to mention what might happen in Spain in one month. Today we have seen that the problem is certainly not the noise of the V6 Turbo: the main issues are cars’ competitiveness and the duels that pilots can perform during the race. We assisted to great fights, overtakings, strategies and crushes; safety-car, also, added something more to the last 8 laps.

No doubt, we have a Mercedes supremacy, both as a team and as power-unit: in the last laps, W05 realized an advantage of 24’’ on the third car at finishing. Rosberg and Hamilton are great champions, who will entertain us again and again. I had the impression that in the last laps they mainly wanted to play and please the public with a great show (also, to be spotted by cameras) given the unconvincing points where Nico tried the final attack on his teammate. Behind them, all the others, more or less close. In this moment the fight is for the third step of the podium. The final ranking sees two Mercedes, Force India, Red Bull, Force India, Red Bull, two Williams and two Ferrari. Which means: five Mercedes engines, two Renault and two Ferrari, with Ricciardo and Vettel between Perez and Hulkenberg, and Alonso and Raikkonen closing the Top 10. A praise goes to Aldo Costa: this success should make us think about the fact that Italian technologies and technicians are too often underestimated. We always think English are on a higher level, but the Made in Italy is still very successful. Costa is the head of a group that certainly follows him, since he certainly doesn’t design the car by himself. This gives food for thought to other teams, too.

Red Bull proves to be a car with a great chassis, only lacking those 40 hp that Horner would like to obtain from the Renault power-unit. Ricciardo performed an amazing race: despite an underserved 10-place grid penalty in qualifications – related to Malaysia, where he also was handed a stop&go of 10’’, not for his faults – he finished the race before his teammate. In one month they have been able to turn upside down a very difficult situation. Very good race for Sergio Perez and Force India. With Hulkenberg, in the previous GPs they proved to have a great car, which today stands in the second place of the World Championship, gaining approval and respect. The Mexican has come forward with great authority, showing he’s part of the games. With this podium he released himself from the negative echoes of last season, proving us that McLaren decisions were rushed. He fully deserved to be on the podium.

Let’s go to Ferrari. At present, they’re the fifth force of the Championship. I think the performance is rescued only by its two World Champions, Alonso and Raikkonen. Otherwise, I think they would have stayed out of the Top 10. The problem is not only the power-unit: competitiveness is lacking in several areas, as underlined by tyre skitting and pilots’ camera-car. I believe it’s important not to make up excuses or to accuse only one sector. They need to reflect with a cold mind, working at 360 degrees in all areas. Now it’s time for tests, before China GP. Excluding W05 of Nico and Lewis, all the others are close: therefore also Ferrari can compete for the third step of the podium and for the second place in World Championship.

Gian Carlo Minardi: “The loss of Formula 1 is not low noise”

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We have left behind only two of the nineteen Grand Prix of the current Formula 1 season, characterized by an epochal change, and we’re almost ready for the third weekend on Bahrain track.

In this beginning of season, we’ve heard and read many – maybe too many – criticisms about this new F1, which is said to have distanced the fans, with a consequent audience reduction, accusing for these damages the new and too silent power units and Technical Regulations.

On the contrary, Gian Carlo Minardi believes problems are coming mainly from other areas: “F1 has undertaken a hard and upward path: maybe too many novelties have been put together too quickly, but I’m sure it will be able to please us soon with great satisfaction. In the first two races we have seen a “compaction” of performances, with as many as 12-13 cars in 1’’. This is extremely positive from a technical perspective, in particular if we think that in Bahrain tests the teams accused a lot of problems”, the Faenza manager comments on minardi.it. “In the course of the next GPs, what now is defined as ‘boredom’ will turn into exciting races”.

Let’s not forget that Formula 1 has always been the highest motoring expression, in which technologies have been then applied into standard cars. “The world has taken a direction and issues like noise pollution and energy saving are themes of the present. Thanks to the resources made available by the Circus, new solutions might be quickly developed. For instance, in Italy all racetracks have to fight against the laws on noise pollution, which limit the activity on the track”, Minardi continues. “I’ve heard in these days that enthusiasts have taken a distance from F1 because the cars don’t make noise anymore. But are we really sure that the problem is the rumble of V6 Turbo? Out of the millions of spectators that have watched the GPs all over the World on Sundays, the ones with a possible right of complaining would have been the fans present at Albert Park and Sepang. All the others have watched the races on the TV”.

With his longstanding experience, Minardi has very clear ideas. “Instead of judging on mere intent, insiders and specialists should concentrate on serious elements such as penalties, their management by FIA and the subjectivity of decision makers. Penalties are the loss of Formula 1. Decisions taken against Magnussen, in particular, and Ricciardo, scare me and damage the F1 environment. Keeping this path, they’ll cancel those possible duels that have been part of the races’ DNA and have contributed to write the history of this sport, besides making the fans falling in love. With present parameters, legendary duels such as Villeneuve-Arnoux (Dijon, 1979) or Piquet-Senna in Hungary would be unconceivable.

Last Sunday, McLaren was heavily penalized for a normal race collision: Raikkonen himself, immediately after the race, admitted he hadn’t understood what happened. We are talking about a hit between a portion of the front right wing and a back wheel. I understand the safety issues, but if we cannot accept this kind of episodes, all we can do is playing with videogames. Regarding Red Bull, sporting delegates have been able to penalize Ricciardo twice – first with a Stop&Go of 10’’ and then with a 10-place Bahrain grid penalty – but he was actually guilty of nothing. The team saw immediately that the wheel wasn’t well-secured and so, before he was back on the track, he was stopped and brought back. Which kind of damage did he create? What scares me more, by the way, is the non-objectivity of delegates in decisions, given the fact that the working team changes at each race. Furthermore, in the same Grand Prix, no decision has been taken regarding Vettel’s behaviour, who squeezed in Nico Rosberg: this was actually a situation of danger”.

The manager from Faenza tries to give his solution to bring the show back and keep the fans close to F1. “FIA has to make a quick intervention, choosing a unique working team which has to be the same for all races. In this way, unpleasant episodes – conditioning the result of the race with non-homogeneous decisions – would quickly be avoided”, Minardi concludes. “And also: let’s not deprive drivers of the emotion of trying a braking at the limit, for the fear of being handed a penalty”.