Minardi Team

2003 - another year and another opportunity for Minardi to defy their critics who said they would be gone by mid-season. They've done it again, but once again have attracted an unusually large amount of attention for a team resigned to the back of the Formula One grid. Founded by Giancarlo Minardi back in 1980 and bought for the start of the 2001 season by Australian Paul Stoddart, Minardi are well renowned for getting themselves out of financial difficulty in recent times and have a good reputation as a hard-working, spirited little outfit. They have a very small budget to work with in Formula One terms - compare Michael Schuamcher getting around ...  Read the complete review

Minardi must feel so alone and so unwanted. The little Italian team are by far the worst runners in the 22 car pack of F1. But why? they haven't always been so bad. Not long ago they were a mid-field team. So whats gone wrong. Only a decade ago they had cars in the points but now even if they get kust one point its like a grand prix win for them. I am mostly angry at the way they have been messed around by their sponsors and engine suppliers. Last year they had a car but no drivers, no sponsors, no engines and no managers. They were doomed to the F1 grid in the sky along with Forti and Tyrrell. But luck came their way. Paul Stoddart, a wealthy ...  Read the complete review

Minardi are the minnows of Formula 1. There's no doubt about it. Week in, week out, they are the last 2 cars on the grid, and week in week out, they either retire from the race, or finish at the back of the field. In fact, Minardi looked like they weren't going to make it this year. They were out of money, out of ideas, but boss Giancarlo Minardi was determined to be on the grid in Australia. But just as it looked like Minardi were finished, along came Australian Paul Stoddart, and bought a large share of the team. There he used his money to get Minardi into the Formula 1 2001 Season. This year the car will be called the European ...  Read the complete review

Poor old Minardi. If enthusiasm won grand prixs alone, Minardi would be world Champs. Unfortunately it doesnt. Confined to the back of the grid for all eternity. or that is the way it seems to me. They arrived on the scene in Formula one about 16 years ago. Giancarlo Minardi, an Italian businessman, decided to move his racing operation up to the big league from Formula 3000. A similar move performed by Eddie Jordan but with slightly less success. It took Minardi 4 years to score its first points and it came in Britain at the Silverstone Grand Prix. Unfortunately, money and points were always scarce and underpowered cars with good designs have ...  Read the complete review

A point for Minardi is greeted with almost the same euphoria that a championship victory is greeted by Ferrari or McLaren. In a sport where money is everything, Minardi is a veritable pauper amongst princes. Each year there is a battle to get the car onto the grid at the start of the season, and then the battle is twofold, namely keeping the car on the track in a race and keeping the team functioning. Formula 1 has no sympathy, and many teams have sunk without trace, through lack of funds to compete in the multimillion pound circus that is F1, and even the mighty have fallen along the wayside. The once all conquering Lotus team never recovered from the death of Colin ...  Read the complete review