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A brief history of the Minardi F1 team
By subh April 13 2005
Following the lead of Osella, there were a number of small but ambitious Italian teams that began to make their way into Formula One during the late 1980s. Usually money was tight, and results were modest.
Most of these teams went out of business in the early 1990s, and a great number of talented young Italian drivers went missing from the sport at much the same time. The big survivors, though, were Minardi.

The Scuderia Minardi was formed by Giancarlo Minardi, together with Pietro Mancini and Giacomo Caliri, at the end of 1979. Giancarlo had already been involved in racing throughout the 1970s, running a team, but this marked the point where Minardi would begin building their own cars, to be raced in the European Formula Two championship.

Minardi didn’t achieve a great deal in 1980, with Miguel Angel Guerra scoring just ten points, but 1981 was a different story. Johnny Cecotto reached the podium as early as the third race, and the season culminated in a win for Michele Alboreto, at Misano - his second rostrum visit. The Italian also set the pole position time at Pau, and shared fastest lap in his race winning drive.

In 1982, Alessandro Nannini finished second for Minardi at Misano, and he did the same at the Nürburgring a year later. He also set fastest lap at Enna, and had a best finish of third in 1984. Pierluigi Martini first made his mark with the team in 1983’s Misano race, finishing second, and would go on to have a decade long association with Minardi.

For 1985, with F2 being superceded by Formula 3000, Minardi made the decision to move up into Formula One. Plans to run a turbo-charged Alfa Romeo engine came to nothing, so the Motori Moderni V6 was designed specifially for the first F1 Minardi. As this was not ready immediately, the normally aspirated Ford Cosworth DFV was relied on to begin with. For some reason, Nannini was not granted the necessary F1 racing licence, so Martini replaced him for the team’s first Grand Prix season.

What followed was a catalogue of unreliable and uncompetitive early Minardis, driven by the likes of Martini, Nannini and Andrea de Cesaris. In 1988, however, with Martini in the cockpit, the team scored its first point in the Detroit race. And 1989 proved a turning point, as Martini and Luis Pérez Sala, helped by their Pirelli tyres, gave hope with a series of useful performances. Best of these were three top five qualifications, a five-six race result at Silverstone, and even a lap in the lead for Pierluigi in Portugal!

In the first race of 1990, Martini managed to put the M189 on the front row of the grid, next to Gerhard Berger’s McLaren. He started from the top ten five more times, but no points were scored that year. In 1991, with Gianni Morbidelli joining Martini, Minardi were powered by a customer Ferrari engine. This unit helped the car onto the fourth and fifth rows several times, and Martini was fourth in the races of San Marino and Portugal - still Minardi’s best GP results.

For 1992, the Lamborghini V12 powered the latest car, with Christian Fittipaldi scoring a point in Japan. 1993 was a better year, as seven points were scored by Fittipaldi and Fabrizio Barbazza. Fourth in South Africa for the Brazilian equalled Martini’s best of two years earlier. Although Martini qualified ninth and tenth during 1994, sharing five points with Alboreto, the years since have not been kind to Minardi.

Reduced to the role of backmarker from 1995 to date, Minardi have often been saddled with the least powerful engine, despite a string of decent chassis. A failed deal with Mugen Honda at one point did not help their cause. However, at times luck has still been with them, with Pedro Lamy (sixth Australia ’95), Marc Gené (sixth Europe ’99) and Mark Webber (fifth Australia 2002) all finishing in the points in recent years. In contrast, Luca Badoer was unlucky to finish even further up than Gené in the same Nürburgring outing.

Always a spirited bunch, Minardi also have a reputation as talent spotters. In 1996, they gave Giancarlo Fisichella his first break, and since then Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber have been launched by the Faenza team. And, despite money troubles for several teams in the current decade, Minardi always seem to find a way to suvive. Long may they continue!

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