GP Brasile F1 1985 Archivio Minardi Team

A week before the 9^th edition of the Historic Minardi Day scheduled for Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September, at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit, the event’s programme has been enhanced with a new not to be missed and exclusive event for all Motorsport fans.

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Minardi Team’s debut in F1 – which took place at 9.30am on Friday April 5, 1985, during the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Jacarepagua circuit – the Checco Costa Museum will host the special exhibition “40 anni della Formula 1 di Faenza” (40 years of Formula 1 in Faenza).

This is a unique exhibition that runs through the extraordinary history of the team from Faenza through seven Formula 1 racing cars, symbols of 4 decades of competition, technical evolution and independent spirit. On display will be 4 Minardi racing cars and three cars from the history of Racing Bulls offering a fascinating exhibition that shows how the spirit of the team, founded in 1979 by Gian Carlo Minardi, has left a deep mark on the history of Formula 1.

Entry to the museum is included in the event tickets which can be purchased on TicketOne – the VIP tickets are already sold out –  (https://www.ticketone.it/artist/historic-minardi-day/), offering fans the chance to admire the cars on display up close during the weekend of the Historic Minardi Day weekend-

GP Brasile F1 1985 Archivio Minardi Team

In addition to the intense activity on the track with the extraordinary historic cars of Formula 1, F2, F3, GP3, F3000, F. Italia, F. Junior, prototypes, GT and GTS, Supercar, Hypercar and the Aci Storico Festival, included in the track days, which will alternate on the track during the various sessions, not to be missed will be the events in the Conference Room and the Briefing Room, with award ceremonies and numerous presentations of books by the most authoritative names in Motorsport, and in the Media Centre with the exhibition by Alessandro Rasponi and Gianni Cancellieri.

Sunday 14, from Noon to 12.45pm, Gian Carlo Minardi will meet the press for an open discussion. It will be an opportunity to take stock of the event, share reflections on the current state of Motorsport and to talk about future prospects and projects.

There will be plenty of entertainment in the Paddock area with professional simulators, model cars, a car village, bookshops, a LEGO® exhibition, sportswear, and the new children’s area (Paddock 2) where the youngsters can have fun, play and enjoy themselves with two incredible inflatables.

GP Brasile F1 1985 Archivio Minardi Team

L'articolo THE 9TH HISTORIC MINARDI DAY CELEBRATES 40 YEARS SINCE THE MINARDI TEAM’S DEBUT IN F1 WITH A UNIQUE EXHIBITION AT THE CHECCO COSTA MUSEUM proviene da Minardi.

2025 will give us many new elements on the grid with a lot of newcomers who will lower the average age of the grid, despite a 40-year-old (Lewis Hamilton) and a 43-year-old (Fernando Alonso) leading the way. We certainly expect many unknowns with the hope, as a fan, that Ferrari could entertain us even more. We are facing a very important year that will drag us towards a radical change in the regulations.”

2024 gave us a few probably unexpected novelties, including the debuts of Bearman, Colapinto and Lawson.

All young men who came into the world championship, participating in grands prix or in free practice on the Friday, showing that they were ready, demonstrating that the preparation of the training formulas is of a high level. Just in these days came the confirmation of Franco Colapinto’s move from Williams to Alpine as the third driver. Now we have to see if they will be able to astound after having impressed us positively.

Another new development, that we will see in a few weeks, is the collective presentation which will be held in London, shortly before the tests in Bahrein. A new way of putting on a show

… as well as the return to success of McLaren after 26 years…

McLaren made some mistakes that come with the growth of a team. Some mistakes become more obvious when you are fighting to win. These same mistakes made in the lower positions create much less clamour.  The team grows as the car becomes more competitive. I am sure that they will not make the same mistakes this year. It is the fee that must be paid to become successful. This is an almost compulsory passage. We saw this with Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari (to mention only a few) before they opened a winning cycle. I must congratulate Andrea Stella who, in a short time, was able to rebuild the structure by bringing it back to success. I seem to see a line that I like a lot: giving faith to young people.

In 2024 you often pointed out that, for you, the best line-up was McLaren’s.

And I confirm this. In 2024 McLaren had the best pair of drivers. Two very fast young men who were able to alternate at the top and encourage each other. They were not free from mistakes, but, as I said before, this is part of the growth path. This year both Lando and Oscar will be in contention for victory. I believe that Piastri has the credentials to soon become a world champion. Management will not be easy, but they already have the experience of last season.

… uneasy management for Ferrari we well.

With Leclerc and Hamilton, it will be difficult for Ferrari regardless, especially if they have, like last year, a car fighting for second and third place. It will not be easy with two contenders of that calibre. The situation will be different in the case of a dominant Ferrari. At that point the track will do the talking.

Formula 1 is passing through a positive time. Everyone wants to host a GP

However, we need to take it easy. At this time Formula 1 is going through a happy and positive moment, but I have gone through a lot of highs and lows in my career. The wind changes direction in an instant. We are faced with a very transient society, with young people who are easily influenced. This also applies to the car makers. Today they are here, but it takes an instant for something to change. It is F1’s past that tells us this.

Precisely concerning the future, the Sprints continue to hold sway. There are those who want to decrease or eliminate them and those who would like to increase them.

A calendar with 24 grands prix and six sprints is already very demanding for the work of the teams, also considering the budget cap. A possible increase in sprint races will not find me in favour, while I would opt to change the point system. Today I do not find it proportionate to the cost of this operation.

L'articolo AN INTERVIEW WITH GIAN CARLO MINARDI “THE MCLAREN MP4/8 AT IMOLA THRILLED ME” proviene da Minardi.

Sarà proprio l’Historic Minardi Day ad aprire la seconda parte della stagione che fin qui è stata senza dubbio spettacolare con la Formula 1 e i concerti che sono stati la punta di diamante della programmazione. Si riparte dunque alla grande e per non perdere questo importante evento ricordiamo che è possibile acquistare i biglietti sul sito Ticketone.it e presso i punti vendita autorizzati Ticketone che dà accesso all’area paddock, terrazza e box incontrando piloti, tecnici e ingegneri che hanno fatto la storia del Motorpsort.

Il programma della manifestazione è ovviamente ancora in via di definizione e sarà annunciato nelle prossime settimane. Riguardo alle vetture, oltre all’intensa attività in pista che vedrà in azione incredibili vetture di Formula 1, tra le quali spiccano la Maserati 250F che partecipò al mondiale dal 1954 al 1956, la Wolf WR7 numero 20 ex Keke Rosberg, le Ferrari 642, 643 e 312 B2 fino ad arrivare alle più moderne Jaguar R1 (2000) e R3 (2002), Formula 2, Formula 3, F3000, GP2, Formula Italia, prototipi e Gran Turismo, insieme agli Historic Tributi in collaborazione con la Scuderia Tazio Nuvolari e la Scuderia del Portello, numerosi saranno gli appuntamenti all’interno dell’area paddock. Ricordiamo che anche quest’anno le vetture avranno il QRCODE per votare la preferita.

Non mancherà poi la F1X3 guidata da Alex Caffi, che farà provare ai suoi passeggeri la potenza e l’ebrezza di una Formula 1 con due giri di pista (info: squadracorseangelocaffi@gmail.com).

Sabato 27 Giusti Aste, in collaborazione con Vision Up, curerà la preziosa asta tematica “Auto d’epoca e Automobilia” Tra le auto che verranno proposte in vendita è da segnalare innanzitutto una bellissima Porsche con la quale il campione Andrea Mordini vinse il campionato italiano nel 2007, poi altre auto stradali sportive, la bellezza di 25, e una rara moto da corsa costruita a Modena.

L’asta sarà incentrata su una moltitudine di categorie per soddisfare collezionisti e amatori: oltre ad auto e moto verranno battuti parti di auto, accessori, automobilia, caschi, disegni, dipinti, sculture, orologi, modellini, vestiario, stampe, poster, arredi e altre varie curiosità. Si susseguiranno, per ordine di importanza, decine di lotti, diversi per tipologie e valore, ma tutti da scoprire, con vere e proprie occasioni di ottimi investimenti, oltre che, naturalmente, per appagamento della propria passione.

Infine non mancheranno gli appuntamenti con i libri di Nada Editori e Minarva edizioni, con convegni, presentazioni e dibattiti che sono da sempre momenti imperdibili di ogni edizione dell’Historic Minardi Day.

L'articolo HISTORIC MINARDI DAY, 27 – 28 AGOSTO. BIGLIETTI IN VENDITA SU TICKETONE proviene da Minardi.

L'articolo Welcome Elena proviene da Minardi.

The tension between these two drivers is certainly very high and FIA should go into damage control to bring them back onto the right path. This tension then deprived us of the two main protagonists but at the same time gave us a wonderful and very tight grand prix with six drivers within the space of just eight seconds. There was no lack of penalties, as in the case of Perez who “gave” third place to an excellent Bottas who has started from the back of the grid. Full points for McLaren. With the double and the fastest lap by Daniel Ricciardo in the last lap the team strongly consolidated third place amongst the constructors, at Ferrari’s expense.

A wonderful weekend has ended with ACI that wanted the presence of the eighteen medals winners from Tokyo at Monza. The celebration Saturday morning with which the Parabolica curve was named after Michele Alboreto was moving and I had the great honour of being beside President Sticchi Damiani, Jean Todt, Matteo Binotto and Michele’s family.

There was a great friendship with Michele. He began and ended his career in open wheels with the Minardi Team, giving me the first and only win. He took the last point of his career at the Monaco Grand Prix at the wheel of the M194. We had been making many plans aimed at the growth of young drivers. We are carrying out this project with the school that bears his name, collecting important results with ACI Sport.

Once again Monza has given an important signal. This Grand Prix deserves continuity. And to conclude this extraordinary weekend, as of today the high chicane at Imola takes the name of the Fausto Gresini curve.

In two weeks the tussle will start up again with the Russian GP.

Gian Carlo Minardi

L'articolo F1 | ITALIAN GP, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “WEEKEND IN MICHELE’S NAME” proviene da Minardi.

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”.

L'articolo GIAN CARLO MINARDI APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE IMOLA CIRCUIT “I AM HONOURED BY THIS OFFICE” proviene da Minardi.

We are pleased to announce the first big news in view of the edition number 5 of the Historic Minardi Day which will take place over three days from April 9 to 11, 2011 at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit as has already been announced in recent weeks.

Despite the health emergency that forced the organization to postpone the fifth edition by a year the organizational machine never stopped working to put together an even richer programme for all the fans that will come to Imola.

Thanks to former F1 driver Alex Caffi, who was already a leading player of previous editions of the Historic Minardi Day with the 1974 Ferrari B4 and the 1967 Ensing N179 (ex Clay Regazzoni) with which he won the 2016 Monte Carlo Historic Grand Prix, two F1X3 cars will take to the Santerno track driven by Alex Caffi, together with Nicola Larini which will let fans experience the thrill and the power of a real Formula 1 car with a lap of the circuit.

In fact, the cars managed by Alex Caffi Motorsport derive from the chassis  of the Jordan EJ13 that were brought onto the track during the 2003 World Championship by Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman, achieving a victory with the Italian driver in the exciting Brazilian Grand Prix and the EJ14 of Giorgio Pantano, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock that got its best results with two seventh places (Monte Caro and Canada) and ninth place in the constructors’ championship.

For further information and to book a lap contact Alex Caffi Motorsport now at this email address: squadracorseangelocaffi@gmail.com

L'articolo HISTORIC MINARDI DAY 2021 | THE F1X3 COMES TO IMOLA WITH ALEX CAFFI AND NICOLA LARINI proviene da Minardi.

Sunday May 7, 2017, Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit.

Since we began this trip amongst the cars from Faenza many of you fans have asked us to tell the story of the Lamborghini powered Minardi M192 but we deliberately waited.

As we said, May 7, 2017. Why this date rather than go back to May 17, 1992, the day of the M 192’s debut in the Formula 1 World Championship at the San Marino Grand Prix (the 5th Grand Prix)?

We are again at the Santerno circuit but the occasion was the second edition of the Historic Minardi Day, the event created by Gian Carlo Minardi together with his brothers and brought to the track alongside Formula Imola.

Collector and driver Fritz van Eerd made available to Gian Carlo Minardi the M192-Lamborghini (ex Fittipaldi. Zanardi and Morbidelli) who thus made his absolute debut at the wheel of one of his cars. In fact, we discovered that before then Gian Carlo had never wanted to try one of his cars.

The circuit’s pit lane and terrace were full of fans and the Gian Carlo’s exit from the pit was accompanied by a roar and applause.

“It was a magic moment and I must thank my friend Frits van Eerd. This event will stay in the history of the Historic Minardi Day, also because I’m sure I set the slowest ever lap at the wheel of a racing car,” remembered a smiling Gian Carlo.

The racing car designed by Aldo Costa mounted a Lamborghini engine-gearbox group and is characterized by a highly visible front wing inspired by the Jordan (which proved to be rather unstable).

This solution was the main cause of the performance problems of the car as it was extremely hard to find a good compromise between slow and fast, while on some circuits such as Hungaroring and Spa it was downright undriveable.

At high speed the front wing loaded too much forcing penalizing choices on the set up to avoid under steer at speed. In view of the Italian GP in Monza the team decided to take a step back and returned to the design of the M191 and the balance of the car changed radically.

Not coincidentally, on that weekend Morbidelli took 10th place on the starting grid while in Japan Fittipaldi took a deserved 6th place.

It was a car with major potential, unfortunately created badly, but it is still in the hearts of many fans. Since May 7, 2017 there is also another reason.

L'articolo MINARDI M192 | GIAN CARLO MINARDI’S DEBUT IN “HIS” IMOLA proviene da Minardi.

Mark Webber (AUS) Minardi PS02

The PS02 was very different from its predecessor. It was the first racing car to bear the signature of Gabriele Tredozi and the main difference was made up of the nose cone turned up high and the subsequent abandonment of the tie rod suspension in favour of the classic strut system.
Compared to the PS01 the wheel base grew by 74 mm to allow the placement of the B version of the titanium gearbox but especially in function of the greater capacity of the fuel tank which had been increased by 20 litres.

The lengthening of the wheelbase was also necessary for moving the front axle forward in order to further remove from the sides the turbulence coming from the front tyres.
The weight distribution was moved forward with a concentration of 45% on the front axle and the possibility of managing the ballast of 50 kg.

The arrangement of the radiators was somewhat different with the abandonment of the lying position in favour of the more traditional symmetrical groups, in other words, with the radiators for water and oil on both sides.

The PS02 immediately showed it was a more efficient machine in aerodynamic terms, even of the development in the wind tunnel was rather limited during the season with the introduction of only a new diffuser in Austria and the new bulkheads for the front wing, this too modified during the season.

Compared to the PS01 which had showed poor reliability in the transmission group the PS02 proved to be a decidedly reliable car. Powered by the less powerful but reliable Asiatech (ex Peugeot) engine the PS02 used two different systems of electronic switchboards: one for the chassis produced by Magneti Marelli and the one for the engine produced by TAG.

With the departure of Fernando Alonso a new debutant arrived in Faenza, the Australian Mark Webber who was joined by the Malaysian Alex Yoong (who brought a dowry of a number of million dollars to the team) who had been the Spaniard’s team mate from the 2001 Italian Grand Prix.

Mark Webber (AUS) KL Minardi Asiatech
Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, 3 March 2002

The season’s most exciting moment precisely on the occasion of the opening race of the World Championship in Melbourne on March 9 (another important date in the history of the Minardi Team). On his home track and his absolute debut in F1 Mark Webber took an extraordinary 5th place which made the fans f the whole circuit explode with joy.

At the start both Minardis manage to pass the fearful crash unscathed. From that moment the racing cars from Faenza continued to stay within the points zone with Mark achieving the first points of his career.

Michael Schumacher often remembered that particular GP that saw him win at the wheel of the Ferrari for one detail: he was astounded by having few people beside him at the moment of popping the champagne bottle, they had all gone to celebrate the Minardi and its fifth place which also joined the German champion. It was a memorable race further reinforced by Yoong’s 7th place.

During the rest of the season the PS02 showed good potential in highly driven circuits such as Monte Carlo. On April 14 at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit on the occasion of the San Marino Grand Prix the team from Faenza crossed the line of 275 GPs.

The Minardi team celebrate their 275th Grand Prix start. – San Marino Grand Prix, Imola, Italy, 11 April 2002.

At the French Gp on July 21 Mark Webber took 8th place (Yoong 10th) and 10th place in Japan in the final round of the season. On the occasion of the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix the Malaysian’s steering when was entrusted to Anthony Davidson.

Thanks to the points scored in Australia the Minardi Team ended the 2002 season in 9th place which gave them access to the very important TV funds.

In that same season the team decided to build a Minardi two-seater by modifying the chassis of the Tyrrrell 026 to approach potential sponsors. Michael Schumacher himself wanted to drive it to entertain his wife and children.

On October 27 of that year the second “Minardi Day” took place, the first was at the Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit that since 2016 has become the home of the Historic Minardi Day, and a good four of these cars were present, driven by Alex Young, Matteo Bobbi, Giorgio Pantano and by Paul Stoddart.

Mark Webber (AUS) Minardi PS02 – Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka, 12 October 2002.

L'articolo MINARDI PS02 | MARK’S DEBUT WELCOMED ON THE PODIUM proviene da Minardi.

Fernando Alonso(ESP) European Minardi PS01 – Australian Grand Prix – Melbourne, Australia 2nd-4th March 2001

For the 2001 season Minardi wanted to produce a car with the weights moved as low as possible, based on the experienced gathered from the previous season’s car.

The PS01 was created with a low nose cone and with a rather square shape, combined with a strongly spoon shaped wing and pull rod front suspensions.

However, these suspensions penalized the car’s aerodynamic development in a season in which it would have been an advantage to raise the nose cone to reduce the negative effects connected to the new aerodynamic limitations introduced by the Federation.

Even from the aerodynamic point of view the rigidity of the suspension with the layout of the pull rods revealed all its limits. The arrangement of the radiators always lying forward with a view to always being able to create low sides was unprecedented.

Minardi also introduced a second version of the titanium cast gearbox casing in the August trials in Monza and made its debut in Germany with Fernando Alonso. The experiment was repeated in Hungary with both drivers and used in the race only by Tarso Marques (who had come back to Faenza). The new gearbox, again created by CRP, was even lighter and stiffer compared to the first version introduced as an absolute novelty in Spain in 2000.

Furthermore, the B version made its debut in Germany with a much more compact rear section and with a wheel base that was 28mm shorter.

The 2001 season also saw Fernando Alonso’s debut in Formula 1 when he stood out on his debut in the Circus with an encouraging 12th place in Melbourne. At the Malaysian GP of March 18 Alonso scored another good result but his 13th place was three laps behind the winner… Marques took a satisfying 9th place in Brazil, as he also did in the Canadian Grand Prix.

The last round of the season on the Suzuka circuit in Japan again saw Fernando Alonso as the great protagonist. The driver from Asturias ran the whole race at such a high rhythm that it was described as “53 qualifying laps”. Unfortunately, the final 11th place did not properly express the happy combination of man and machine in that race but remained n exceptional result taking into account that the speed performance of the Minardi was inferior due to the low power of the Cosworth V10.

Despite all the team’s efforts the 2001 season was filed away with zero points but there remained the awareness of having introduced Alonso’s talent to the international audience with the Spaniard after passing onto Flavio Briatore’s court as Renault’s test driver the season after.

Fernando Alonso(ESP) European Minardi PS01 – Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka 12 October 2001.

L'articolo MINARDI PS01 | FERNANDO ALONSO’S STAR IS BORN proviene da Minardi.