F1 | Giovinazzi in Sauber next to Raikkonen. MINARDI “Line-up perfect”

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upAfter seven long years Italy will once again have a standard bearer in the F1 World Championship. The long wait was ended by Antonio Giovinazzi who from next season will defend full time the colours of Team Alfa-Romeo-Sauber beside Kimi Raikonnen.

The twenty five year old driver from Apulia will take the take left free by Leclerc (promoted to Ferrari next to Vettel), returning to the team that gave him his debut in 2017 when he raced the Australian and Chinese grands prix in place of the injured Wehrlein.

We spoke on the telephone to Gian Carlo Minardi who is busy is Rome. “I am very happy for Antonio and for all of Italy’s Motorsport which, after seven years, has once again found its fulltime standard bearer in F1. This is a very important step for the project being carried out by ACI, with its roots beginning in karting and then continue in the training categories,” commented the satisfied manager from Faenza, “the pair of Raikonnen-Giovinazzi is exactly right because the team will be able to count on the experience of a master such as the Finn who will give a hand to the young driver to learn and grow. I hope that the student will quickly overtake the master,” concluded Minardi.

At Hinwil Giovinazzi will find not only Raikonnen once again but also Simone Resta whose career began in 1998 in Faenza with the Minardi Team, in his role as Technical Director who will look after the C38 Project.

F1 | Gp Russia, Minardi “Only one result is possible for Ferrari”

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We have reached the last six races in the calendar and this weekend in Sochi Ferrari has only one possible result: the one-two. Maurizio Arrivabene’s men must try to makes things difficult for Hamilton and Mercedes that naturally start as favourites.

In this moment Mercedes has the peace of mind missing in Maranello and the awareness that it can manage the good lead in both ladders. Last year Vettel and Raikonnen were able to fill the front row of the grid but the race went to Bottas. They will need to avoid this.

We must make one consideration. It seems to me that we are experiencing once more what happened last year with the first part of the season favouring Ferrari and Mercedes growing up and making a comeback. This is exactly what is happening now. We must understand if we are faced with an opportunist Mercedes, or Ferrari that makes too many mistakes and annuls its advantage. Certainly the drivers and team are not exempt from blame.

On the tyre mix front Pirelli will bring the Softs as the hardest mix and down to HyperSoft. I hope we will see a greater difference in performance between the mixes because it is one of the elements that have been missing this year. Pirelli would like to reduce the range for 2019 but the objective should be to increase the difference in performance between the mixes.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Super Trofeo | Pole position and win at Nurburgring for Karol Basz who increased his championship lead

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In the fifth round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa at Nurburgring Karol Basz, together with Vito Postiglione, in the Imperiale Racing Huracan number 44 drove the (nearly) perfect weekend with pole position, a win in race-1 and second place in race-2 and setting the fastest lap.

Only the win in race-2 was lacking but on his debut on the German track Basz confirmed that he is the top driver in the single make category by closing the weekend run constantly on the charge, without making the slightest error and achieving the objective of increasing the lead in the championship. The Italian-Polish pair drew up to the starting line with a lead of four points over its direct rivals and will go to the Vallelunga track on November 15 an 18 with a ten point lead.

During his qualifying round the Polish driver followed by Minardi Management set an important pole position confirming that he had reached an excellent feeling for the track. In race-1 Basz took part in the second part of the race and completed the comeback that his team mate had already begun by crossing the finish line with a lead of nearly 12 seconds over their direct rival and so scoring the fourth win of the season.

Karol made the perfect start to race-2, keeping pole position and dictating a rhythm that started a great tussle with Zampieri run on the edge of tenths of seconds and he returned to the pits as race leader.

“I am very happy because we managed to increase our lead in the championship by taking pole position, the won and second place. I liked Nurburgring from the first lap and this is seen in the results on the track. I am very happy with how I drove in all the sessions and I really look forward to the final round at Vallelunga to be able to race for the title,” commented Karol Basz.

“We say goodbye to Nurburgring with another win and pole position and a lead in the championship that grew to ten points. Karol was very fast during all the weekend and practically perfect in every situation. In qualifying he just missed out on the perfect lap but took pole position anyway. In the two races he was one of the fastest and even set the fastest time in race-2 with an impressive stint. Now we will prepare for the final round at Vallelunga where we will go onto the track with the aim of winning both the European and World titles,” commented managers Giovanni Minardi and Alberto Tonti.

Karol will fly to Kristianstad in Sweden to take part in the Karting World Championship to defend the Kosmic Racing colours to try and repeat the 2015 title won on the Muro Leccese track.

F1 | Minardi “Ocon deserves to stay in F1”

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We are at the door of the Singapore Grand Prix, the fifteenth round (of twenty one) of the world championship and a drivers transfer market surrounded by deep uncertainty. It has been some years since we last saw so many changes of teams (see the retirement of Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo’s passage from Red Bull to Renault or Force India’s change of ownership which saw the cancellation of its points at the Belgian GP) and, above all, there are still pieces that have to find their places.

At this time Ferrari is tipping the scales with the unknown factor tied to Kimi Raikonnen’s future. Despite many rumours, there has been no denial or official announcement from Maranello, even if what happened with the official account from Garage Italia that belongs to Lapo Elkann is striking when it announced the arrival of Charles Leclerc beside Vettel and which then modified the post’s text.

As long as this point has not been clarified it is difficult to see other movements since Ferrari conditions two teams (Haas enjoys greater autonomy compared to Sauber on the drivers’ front). Sadly Esteban Ocon could pay the price of this game of changes, especially since the arrival of Lawrence Stroll as head of the group that saved Force India (renamed Racing Point Force India) with the great probability of bringing his son Lance into the team (freeing a place at Williams).

The one paying the price for this would be the Frenchman. I hope that a skilled manager such as Toto Wolff would not allow such a mess to happen since, in my modest opinion, we are talking about one of the most interesting emerging drivers who deserves to stay in the Circus. It would be absurd if he were not one of the twenty drivers on the starting grid in 2019.

At the present time Ocon occupies tenth place in the drivers’’ ladder with 45 points, one less than Sergio Perez.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | Minardi “YES to the third car, NO to clone cars”

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The rumours of recent weeks were confirmed in a 2018 drivers transfer market that continues to amaze us. This morning Ferrari officially announced Raikonnen’s departure at the end of the season and subsequently the arrival of Charles Leclerc. The real surprise was the confirmation that the Finn would go back to Sauber, the team that launched him into the F1 world championship in 2001, taking the place of the driver from Monaco.

Raikonnen signed a two year contract with the Swiss team and he will therefore have the chance to finish his career in the world championship where he began it, as well as finding once more Simone Resta who transferred to the team from Hinwil a few months ago to take the role of Technical Director. There is still the unknown factor of who will be his team mate. Another piece has found its place in the puzzle.

Over the last few days Toto Wolff used harsh words when he threatened to close the Mercedes Young Drivers Programme if Esteban Ocon could not find a team to drive, however, he opened a possibility that Gian Carlo Minardi had already launched a few years ago, that is the third car for rookie drivers. “I have long favoured this option, just as for years I have been asking that Friday morning be opened to rookies,” commented the manager from Faenza, “We must give a chance to those who invest in young drivers right from with the training formulas, starting already in karting. On the other hand, as of today it is increasingly difficult and the funnel is becoming ever smaller. If we do not put in place some new initiatives we will be faced with an extremely serious crisis,” he continues, launching a warning.

“We must consider that not all the teams have the financial strength to build and manage three vehicles on the track at the same time. Therefore we would need to review the whole points system by creating a class dedicated to rookies – as happens in the GT categories – in order to give the smaller teams the possibility to battle it out for the points zone which otherwise would be off limits with three Ferraris and just as many Mercedes, Red Bulls and Renaults,” proposed Minardi.

“By doing this the possibility of having four top teams and as many clones would be avoided, this is a road that does not fascinate me and which could distort the championship’s DNA. We are faced with an important change in an F1 that is in the hands of four great constructors such as Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Honda. We hope that they have the intelligence, the skill and, above all, the desire to manage to situation in the best way possible,” concluded Minardi.

Super Trofeo | Karol Basz and Vito Postiglione at Nurburgring to consolidate the leadership

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With the end of the summer break the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa will this weekend switch on the motors once more for the fifth round and Karol Basz, together with team mate Vito Postiglione, will step up to the starting line at Nurburgring at the top of the ladder, a place earned on Spa-Francorchamps’ selective circuit.

The Polish driver followed by Minardi Management will take to the wheel of the Imperiale Racing “Lambo” Huracan number 44 to go on the prowl for this season’s fourth win on a very technical track on which qualifying will have a very important role since overtaking will not be so easy due to the many curves at low and medium speed and the lack of significant straights.

“Nurbugring will be another new track for me, but I hope that after intensive preparation on the simulator I will be able to find it quickly. We are at the forefront of the table, despite the fact that a lot has happened during the previous races, so I hope that in Germany we will strengthen our lead” commented Karol Basz

“After the summer break Karol will go back on to the trail of the Super Trofeo in the lead together with Vito. At Nurburgring we will again try to achieve the best results in order to confirm our place at the top and we also hope for a touch of luck that has certainly been missing in the previous rounds. In the week of the break Karol continued his athletic training and studied the circuit on the simulator with his usual doggedness. We want to thank the Imperiale Racing team that continues to support us by giving us the chance to fight it out for the title,” commented managers Giovanni Minardi and Alberto Tonti.

This weekend will begin with the two free practice sessions programmed for Friday 14th at 11.30am and 4.20pm in preparation for the qualifying rounds on Saturday at 10.35am that will decide the starting grid for Race-1 (Saturday at 3.40pm) and Race-2 (Sunday at 1.00pm). Both the rounds will be streamed live the Official Facebook Lamborghini Squadra Corse Page https://www.facebook.com/LamborghiniSquadraCorse/

After Germany Karol will fly to Sweden, destination Kristianstad, to participate at the Karting World Championship to defend the colours of Kosmic Racing to try and repeat his 2015 success on the Muro Leccese circuit.

F1 | Gp Italy THE POINT by Gian Carlo Minardi “Hamilton extraordinary. Ferrari, how many mistakes”

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In the light of the results in free practice and especially in qualifying the result of the race clearly disadvantages Ferrari that leaves Monza only with second place.

Unfortunately we saw the Festival of mistakes: Sebastian Vettel stumbled with the fifth mistake in the season barely thirty seconds after the green light, the people on the wall called Raikonnen into the pits too early and gave Hamilton the chance to run eight more laps, but I believe something was not working perfectly in the Finn’s car and he paid for this with excessive blistering of the right rear wheel, possibly due to an imperfect mix of the set or by a set up that was not the best.

We are witnessing an exciting struggle between two great constructors that is very tight even in the verbal exchanges and the strategies. Bottas’ message was clear when he slowed Raikonnen to favour Hamilton’s come back. Games are part of F1 and they show how important it is to have two drivers in play. This must give Ferrari something to think about for the near future.

Monza gave us a tight grand prix run on the edge of hundredths of a second where Hamilton did not make the slightest mistake. He came close bringing home the maximum result. He was perfect in every circumstance: at the start, when he overtook Vettel and in the final charge on the Finn. We waited an instant before lunging on Raikonnen which was backed up by his team’s strategy as well. Faced with such a driver it will be very hard for Vettel to close the gap with only seven grands prix still to be run.

The Grand Prix’s best driver? Surely Hamilton. He did not make the slightest mistake and always raced on the attack, keeping his rival under pressure. Bottas’ small assist is something that happens.

I must congratulate all the public because it answered in the best way possible and by filling the terraces showed how important this round is for Italians. These were three exciting days. We will now wait and see what will happen in Singapore.

Gian Carlo Minardi