F1 | PEREZ JOINS VERSTAPPEN. MINARDI “CONGRATULATIONS RED BULL”

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Precisely in light of next season Horner’s team had scored the final hit of the market by securing the services of Louis Perez who only the week before had won the Sakhir Grand prix for his first career win.

“Red Bull has put together two very clever operations, securing a talented driver such as Sergio Perez and by maintaining within the staff of Albon as Red Bull’s and Alpha Tauri’s test driver.

2021 will be a year of transition towards the drastic change of regulations and it will be important to see who will manage to best exploit the few tokens available for developing the car.

They finished in growth and only they can try to annoy Toto Wolff’s German battleship, even if it will be hard to beat them with so little time available,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi at the microphone of Minardi.it

This was a major change turnaround for Red Bull that interrupted the tradition that until today had seen them choose drivers from their nursery and satellite teams. In an interview on Servus TV Marko defended Red Bull Junior Academy’s work, highlighting how the arrival of the Mexican driver in Milton Keyes was not a rejection of the Austrian team’s junior drivers’ programme, having several drivers on which to focus on in view of 2022.

One of next season’s new developments will be the debut of Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda who will join Pierre Gasly (the winner at Monza) in the Alpha Tauri pits. “He comes from a positive season in F2 and he went very well in the tests. He is a promising young driver,” emphasized the manager from Faenza.

The 2021 season will therefore start with a number of new developments. After having said goodbye to Ferrari Sebastian Vettel is about to wear the colours of the newly formed Aston Martin (formerly Racing Point) joining Lance Stroll who took Perez’s place. Carlos Sainz has already arrived at Maranello alongside Leclerc and his place at McLaren has been taken by Daniel Ricciardo who will team up with Lando Norris.

In the seat left free by the Australian driver in the renamed Alpine (formerly Renault) will be no less than the two times World Champion Fernando Alonso. There will be a completely new line-up in the Haas team. Having said goodbye to Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen the American team will field two debutants, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

In the meantime Lewis Hamilton still has to sign the renewal with Mercedes.

GIAN CARLO MINARDI APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE IMOLA CIRCUIT “I AM HONOURED BY THIS OFFICE”

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Formula Imola S.p.A., the company that manages the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International circuit announced that today the assembly of the members elected the new Board of Administration made up of 5 members which will remain in office for 3 years and whose appointment will come into force from January 1, 2021 and that the current Board will remain in office until December 31, 2020.

Gian Carlo Minardi, 73 years of Faenza, founder of the Minardi F1 Team has been appointed to the office of President and will be accompanied in their role as Board members by Susana Caroli, 46 years of Imola chartered accountant; Aldo Costa, 59 years of Parma Technical Director of Dallara Automobili; Augusto Machirelli, 65 years of Imola former Director General of Con.Ami and currently business consultant in the management field of “governance”; Valeria Vignali, 43 years of Modena associate Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Environmental Engineering of the University of Bologna.

Gian Carlo Minardi: “I am grateful for the trust that the 23 Mayors of Con.Ami have given me. Now begins an adventure that I hope will bring positive results, those that we all expect because it is an honour to work for the Imola Circuit. I hope to live up to it and to reciprocate the trust that has been given me. I am very pleased to find myself with Aldo Costa again with whom I worked in the Minardi F1 Team from 1988 to 1995 when he held the role of Technical Director. In general it seems an excellent team with important skills. There are all the conditions for working really well. I want to thank Uberto Selvatico Estense for the results achieved under his management and I hope that the friendly relationship that has distinguished us over these years, I as ACI Sport and he as President of the Circuit, will remain solid and that if I need advice, as can happen, that he will be willing to give it to me. There cannot be a future without a past and a present”,

Uberto Selvatico Estense: “At the end of my term which ended with an extremely particular year due to the pandemic which destroyed entire sectors of the economy, let me be allowed to recall the results in terms of organization and management during this long wonderful period. I have had the honour to preside the operational organization and at times only the hospitality of memorable concerts such as those by AC/DC and Gun N’ roses, the WTCC world tourism championship, the World Endurance Championship when it was still called the WEC, nine World Superbike Championships, the ELMS, the world finals of the Ferrari Challenge and the Lamborghini Super Challenge, the Senna Tribute, the 200 Miglia Revival and Minardi Day, the CIV, the Italian Cup, the Exhibition Market by the very talented Brusa, five Motor Cross World Championships, three in Faenza and two in Imola, the Italian Half Marathon and the Cycling World Championships, all challenges won many times against all odds. Above all I spent eleven years focussing on how to bring Formula One back to Imola. I believe that in this final matter that there is therefore a duty for my successor to continue to advocate subsidiarity of the economic benefits of such a major event for the territory and for what I have sown with FOWC and FIA to maintain the result achieved, If he knows how to adequately respond to the requests of the promoters there is no doubt that the Circus will remain in Imola as was announced to me in recent months at the end of an event that came out very well from the organizational point of view such that it received the praise of the drivers and the team managers. Especially now that under my management the circuit is in top shape and substance, thanks to the investments made with the resources of Con.Ami and Formula Imola, new more ambitious projects are also possible. Undoubtedly Gian Carlo Minardi represents a guarantee of success for this objective and for the programme of the Imola City Council to operate with economically sustainable results on the multi-functional aspects of the facility without forgetting its motoring soul. I therefore wish him and his collaborators the great result of being able to restore order to the chaos in which the world has ended up. If he knows how to serve to be able to serve nothing will impede him”.

F1 | LECLERC-SAINZ, MINARDI “FERRARI HAS THE BEST PAIR”

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Carlos Sainz wasted no time. After the adventure with McLaren he has already arrived at Maranello to prepare the seat and to get to know the men with whom he will share this adventure in Ferrari.

Maranello closed one of the worst seasons in its history not finishing above sixth place in the constructors’ ladder and the time to find a remedy is truly little, as are the tokens available to the teams to develop and improve the racing car in what will be a year of transition awaiting the change of regulations scheduled for the 2022 season.

“Ferrari is certainly experiencing a very difficult period and in these few months that separate them from the first race in Australia they will have to try and sharpen their weapons to try and leave a disastrous season behind them. Unfortunately, this is the only sport that does not require training and next year there will be only three days of tests,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi at the microphones of Minardi.it

“Binotto however will be able to count on the best pair of drivers in the circus, also in terms of yield of points. Leclerc and Sainz have all the right cards to put together good results,” continued the manager from Faenza.

2021 will also be the year of the introduction of the budget cap. “The way it has been conceived is nothing short of ridiculous. It serves no purpose except to bring about a small reduction in the team’s staff. With the possibility of three extra-budget items the top teams can allow themselves the best driver, the best engineer and the best research. If you really want to make it work you must include all the items, without exception. At that point you leave the team free to take to the track to try and spend the money as it sees fit,” concluded Minardi.

F1 | GP ABU DHABI, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “RED BULL’S WIN IS POSITIVE IN LIGHT OF 2021”

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We have come to the end of a season that at the start of the year was impossible to predict but Formula 1 was united and managed to put together a good calendar with seventeen grands prix with which it was able to give us great races and major moments, all wrapped up in an incredible domination labelled Mercedes.

This final round also gave us a great emotion with Max Verstappen’s pole position and the win in front of the two Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton.

It was a Red Bull that grew strongly in the final part of the season which bodes well for next year. Only a few reliability problems, together with the retirement in the previous grand prix caused by Leclerc’s collision with Perez, denied the Dutchman the satisfaction of taking the title of vice-champion but at the same time this saved the reputation of Bottas who today paid a gap of 15 seconds.

Once again Hamilton showed his qualities by firmly taking third place despite a less than perfect state of health dictated by Covid-19. The situation of his contract still remains to be resolved and an eventual divorce would create a real tsunami in the circus.

This was a championship that was able to give us excellent growth by McLaren that won its duel with Racing Point for third place and a Renault on the rise as shown by the fastest lap time set by Ricciardo in the last lap.

The only sore point is this Ferrari. It failed to go beyond sixth place in the constructor’s’ ladder (never this bad since 1980). There is a lot of work to do in Maranello and very little time considering that the number of days of winter testing will be reduced to three.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | GP SAKHIR, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “A MORTAL SIN TO LOSE PEREZ. RUSSELL DID NOT MAKE US REGRET HAMILTON’S ABSENCE”

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This F1 world championship never ceases to give us incredible emotions. Once again we witnessed a grand prix full of twists and turns with the final placings uncertain up to the final lap on a track that, at least on paper, could have passed into anonymity.

Leclerc’s collision with Perez, which also involved the innocent Verstappen, gave us the first spark which forced the Mexican driver to a crazy comeback that ended with his first career win.

Applause certainly goes to Perez. After his retirement a week ago and despite his uneasy position, he showed great determination and cold bloodedness. It is a mortal sin to see such a motivated and strong driver in difficulty for 2021.

The mistakes made by Mercedes during the pit stops that (almost certainly) cost Russell his first win were also incredible. After having dominated free practice on Friday he closed qualifying in second place barely 26 thousandths of a second behind Bottas. At the start he did not let himself be intimidated, taking the race lead immediately and completing the grand prix without making the slightest mistake and overtaking beautifully and decisively many times despite a situation that was not easy even for him. He did not make us regret Hamilton’s absence and confirmed he is a top class driver. He gave the answers that were expected of him. Today’s performance could make Mercedes’ President, faced with Hamilton who has not yet signed the new contract, think.

It was a pity that Leclerc and Hamilton were not in the game as well. With the departure of the driver from Monaco there was no basis with which to compare Sebastian Vettel’s absolutely disappointing performance. The German driver made a lot of mistakes. Who knows if Racing Point, next Aston Martin, is still convinced of the choice made…

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | RUSSELL-MERCEDES, MINARDI “INTERESTING WITH AN EYE TO THE FUTURE”

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We have come to the penultimate round of the world championship but there is still room for a completely new circuit for F1 with an extremely fast and short layout with lap times under a minute. It will be a complicated race with a lot of overtaking but less stressful for the tyres compared to the previous commitment.

A race that may have had little to tell us had been much more lively by the forced absence of Lewis Hamilton, stopped by the damned Covid-19, and by the “promotion” of the promising young English driver George Russell.

It will be interesting following him in this adventure, also because at the moment Hamilton has not yet signed the renewal with Mercedes since a tug of war is under way, not so much with Toto Wolff than with Mercedes’ president who is determined to strongly review all the contracts downwards in light of the budget cap.

Should Russell live up to expectations and the seven times Wold Champion not accept the conditions offered major scenarios could open up.

This round will be important also for Valtteri Bottas who is playing a big slice of credibility since in the last two races he has been dominated not only by Hamilton but also by Verstappen who is not only one point away on the ladder.

The times: 6.00pm (Italian time) Saturday for qualifying, with the start of the race at 6.10pm on Sunday 6.

Gian Carlo Minardi