Archive for category: News

We are on the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship that had its first act in Melbourne which gave us some verdicts that may be confirmed or overturned in Sakhir. Jacques Villeneuve upset the last few days when he used some inelegant (to say the least) words concerning the return of Robert Kubica. I believe he lost the chance to keep quiet. With all due respect for the results achieved, maybe his career in Motorsport would not have begun without his surname. Kubica’s decision must be respected.

To me it seems more correct speaking about Motorsport rather than creating disquiet with sterile debate, where we find Ferrari that exudes tranquillity with the statements by Binotto, Vettel and Leclerc who do not make glaring claims even if I fear that the true Mercedes is the one we saw in the penultimate lap in Australia with Bottas who, with extreme ease, lowered the best time by 1”.

We come to a true track with parametres that make the thermometer important for the future of the season and where the high temperatures will have an important bearing on the reliability. The one to watch will be Red Bull – Honda that two weeks ago gave proof of great strength with the first podium reached by the Japanese in the hybrid era.

There will be a great struggle behind the first three, as we saw right from qualifying in Melbourne with sixteen drivers within a range of 1” in Q1 where Gasly paid a high price for a mistake in strategy.

Getting back to the matter of Kubica, Williams was the negative point and I truly hope that they have identified the area where they must intervene even if, seeing the big gap, it will take time to recover. In many cases you resort directly to the B version of the racing car. Luckily the budget is not a priority problem for them.

Gian Carlo Minardi

I am shocked and incredulous at the premature death of Charlie Whiting, a person who made Formula 1 history in recent years. My course through the world championship was tied to him as he became part of FIA in 1988 and Race Director in 1997. There was mutual respect and he was always close to my staff when we brought innovative solutions onto the track. I extend my condolences to his family.

Sadly, in these cases the show must go on and we are at the gates of the first grand prix of the new season. We finally get back to racing and the teams will be forced to put all (or nearly) their cards on the table to show the true values on the field.

I am still convinced that the reins of the race are once again in the hands of Mercedes and Ferrari despite an important compaction of performance towards the top also by second level teams where the drivers will have to make up the difference. The tests show how all the teams have worked very well and the expectations for Melbourne are for a weekend of competitiveness.

Last year we had a remarkable start by Ferrari that scored first and third places with Vettel and Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton in second place. We are only in the first round of a very long season made up of a good twenty one races. It will be very important to keep both feet on the ground regardless of the final result.

It is the start of a season full of talking points.

ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI: Beginning with the return of one of our flag bearers on the starting grid, something that has been missing for too long. I hope he and Alfa Romeo will be able to fight it out for the places just behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull that will have the unknown factor of the Honda engine. Reliability will be an important factor for all the teams, as we saw in the second session of tests in Barcelona, even if for some years they have accustomed us to incredible results right from the start.

KUBICA’S RETURN: After eight years since his last grand prix Robert Kubica will make his second debut in F1. Sadly the premises are not rosy with the expectation of Williams in great difficulty. It is inexplicable what is happening to a team that has written some of the most memorable pages of this sport. I hope that the earthquake that it is experiencing –Paddy Lowe will leave the team – will be turned into an incentive to find the right road and to rise again since it does not deserve these results. We can sense they miss founder Sir Frank Williams who has been kept away from the team and the tracks by sickness

A POINT FOR THE FASTEST LAP: In the last few hours the allocation of an extra point for the fastest lap in the race was approved (if the driver places in the top ten) which will be valid for both the drivers’ and the constructors’ ladders. It seems banal, but in the course of the season these are twenty one points that can make the difference. An extra variation on the strategy front comes into play, especially in a very close season.

I await with great anticipation the free practice but especially the first qualifying session that will have us a measure of the world championship to come. I will catch up with you on Sunday to comment the Australian Grand Prix. Good world championship to you all.

Gian Carlo Minardi

As a man of sport I would have preferred not entering in person into the question tied to the Imola circuit but in recent weeks I received many requests for information from passionate enthusiasts worried about the future of the Historic Minardi Day. For this reason I want to calm all the fans by confirming that on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit will host the fourth edition and to state my thoughts on what is happening.

Around the world Imola is synonymous with the Romagna region and speaking in a sporting way I consider it my second home as it was the stage of 21 Grands Prix for the Minardi Team.

The Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit is an international heritage.

The core lies in defining once and for all the meaning of the Circuit for the city of Imola. A Circuit is obviously a place where auto and motorbike races are held, both at national and international, and in the specific case of Imola we are talking of a facility with a historic image that is exceptional in the world, a point of reference for all of Motorsport, beginning with the Italian Federation.

All the circuits have high management costs, tied above all the renovation work for its safety. In order to protect the budgets, it is necessary that the facility functions for the greater part of the year, also through days of open testing that are open to all the fans. This would be easily to facilitate in the Imola Circuit because its image would attract this very type of clientele. Without forgetting that hosting national and international events brings income above all to the cause but also to the benefit of the Imola Local Council’s overall economic performance and also to the neighbouring Local Councils.

The circuit is certainly also a source of discomfort because of the sound for those who live nearby but goodwill is needed to overcome these problems. Today there are technologies and interventions that can alleviate a good part of the problem.

Despite Formula Imola having managed to relaunch activity strongly in recent years, if we do not decide to follow the road to saving the Circuit we seriously risk losing the Enzo and Dino Ferrari.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Imola to spend a weekend together under the banner of Motorsport with the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day.

Gian Carlo Minardi

“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”