What is it about Minardi that make people love them?

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by Andre the Giant
You reckon?
From what I've read around the place they are becoming a bit of a joke too.

They've turned things around this year, by cutting the **** and focussing on racing.

[grumpy1]

Without Minardi and Jordan a lot of drivers would never seen the F1 curcuit.F1 needs these 2 teams as much as they need Williams and McLaren.
One can hardly blame either of these two teams for the current state of play.Agreed they have not been able to match it for a while but as the teams with all the money find more and more ways to bend the rules it will remain the way it is.Good on the FIA for trying to regin in the costs.It may keep these teams alive and bring some others to the mix.
I will put this way of bending the rules to you to think about.A team tests at 4 different traks on the same day with different crews at each track.How many test days does this take from the allotted days for this team?
Think about it hard and think of the costs involved in doing this.
Now you see why the minoes will never match it with the big boys.

The Grumpy1

P.S.The answer to the test question is 1

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by Gt_R


The current Minardi has kinda lost that feeling under Stoddart.

I agree with that.

In an interview last year, Stoddart was asked how it felt to come in last all the time, and his response was, "well, somebody has to come in last".

Hardly an inspiration to his team, and fans, and hardly a vote of confidence that they would ever get better or even try to...

[Team Owner]

Anyone can be a Ferrari or Williams fan but it takes fortitude to be a Minardi fan. My son searched high and low to find me a Minardi hat which I wear with pride.

[jetsetter]

Apart from the fact that they are the underdog & everyone loves to see an underdog do well they have become an important part of the F1 driver development with the young drivers they have bought in to Formula 1 which no other team would've given an opportunity to.

[JohnSSC]

I have to admit that I have read many of these posts and said to myself: "Huh??"

Yes, it is natural to root for the underdog. I think that by this point it is hard to root for a team that allows itself to be "used" by F1. Whatever their fighting spirit was, they are simply there to guarantee a number. No Minardi, no 20 car grid. Period.

F1 doesn't "need" Minardi (or Jordan or Sauber) as a "hedge" for the day when the manufacturers go away. Teams like McLaren and Williams and Ferrari will still be in the game. I mean, heck, who would McLaren sell the Taj Mahal with Garage Doors to?

Call me cold, cynical whatever (just not late for dinner) but these teams are there only to provide amusement and numbers. Minardi or the presence thereof is not going to drive costs down!

I keep saying it but Wake Up! This is a series where the teams bring their own trees to populate the paddock.

This is a series that has teams spending millions to design and build rolling, foldable office complexes.

This is a series where teams have their own windtunnels.

This is a series where Teams build enormous Garages so Grand, the Queen Herself feels compelled to tour them!

As costs are lowered, the Top Teams will, as always garner the greatest amount of available advertising money. Teams like Minardi won't survive if their attitude (being a field-filler) remains.

[JohnSSC]

And by the way, I think it is unconscionable that PS would sacrifice his airline employees to keep his "passion" afloat. F1 will never be more important than the employees and families who simply want to make an honest living.

[Gt_R]

Quote:"F1 doesn't "need" Minardi (or Jordan or Sauber) as a "hedge" for the day when the manufacturers go away"

Yes, i agree. Minardi, Jordan and Sauber have relatively shorter history that Ferrari Mclaren and Williams, so frankly F1 needs the latter three teams more than the former.

But Minardi, Jordan and Sauber are started as intentions to race, unlike teams like Toyota/Jag who are started with intentions to advertise. Unfortunately, teams like Minardi/Jordan want to stay in F1 but they can't have the means too. On the otherhand, teams like Toyota have the means to stay, but would leave once the sports doesn't serve their purpose anymore.

[Nordic]

He took risks with his airline and its employees in order to protect Minardi and its employees

I guess it's all about priority, the way Stoddart treated his former airline staff could be refelected in the way he treats his current Minardi crew, (maybe they should asked to be payed a month in advace!)

Very very few teams have ever climbed from the back of the grid to the top, even when given works engines etc, they still stay rooted to the bottom.

[steve_r]

Originally posted by Nordic
Very very few teams have ever climbed from the back of the grid to the top, even when given works engines etc, they still stay rooted to the bottom.

Off the top of my head: Renault, Tyrell, Leyton House / March, Arrows all had periods at the very back, and all had periods at or near the very front. I'm sure there are loads more, but as F1 has changed into an even higher-tech sport, requiring more money than ever, climbing the grid has become more and more difficult.

To the people who say that Minardi are wasting time because they are unlikely to win, I ask a question - What is the alternative? Do you want them to give up and go home? (and I ask another question: Do you support Man Utd? )

[Nordic]

Off the top of my head: Renault, Tyrell, Leyton House / March, Arrows all had periods

With the execption of Renault who used to run there own team, but now prefer to buy an existing outfit (nothing wrong in that, seems the best way to go)the others hardly serve as a good role model of a current F1 team in so much as they are all defunct!

The success those teams and many more had, came in the 60's-late 80's when F1 was not the money driven farce it is today. Its was possible then as I am sure you are aware, to buy most of the kit needed to go racing of the shelf.

[steve_r]

Originally posted by Nordic
The success those teams and many more had, came in the 60's-late 80's when F1 was not the money driven farce it is today. Its was possible then as I am sure you are aware, to buy most of the kit needed to go racing of the shelf.

And if you read my whole post, you will see that I was making the exact same point.

[JohnSSC]

Well actually I like Newcastle 'cause I think Shearer is tops!

I don't necessarily wish bad things for PS/Minardi but I just think he is playing "F1 Team Owner" rather than anything else.

Personally I would love to see a "Budget Cap" put in place where each team would be limited in their spending. Add up the budgets sometime. As a group they spend a stupendously ridiculous lump of $$$. Would things be that bad for the average fan if they "only" spent $75 million a year each?

[spider]

Minardi's trouble is that they don't come across in the same way Sauber do - efficient and utterly professional. Sauber are independant but have grown into a very repectable midfield runner, forging close ties with the 'force' of F1 (Ferrari) and investing in their future by constructing one of the worlds most state-of-the-art windtunnels. Minardi on the other hand are too vocal in their "we're so poor, give us some money" tactics.

Bernie advised Paul to be quieter and more efficient, as how many companies want to be investing millions into a team that says that they're miles behind the opposition and don't have the facilities to compete!? They need to be far more shrewd and professional if they are to attract the BIG companies. Could you imagine Credit Suisse (or an Italian bank), Petronas or Red Bull backing Minardi?? I certainly can't. The Minardi brand is too weak, and as rightly said here they rely too heavily on the fact that they know that Max is desperate to keep 10 teams on the grid.

It would be great if a few Arden's, Carlin's etc entered the fray and took on Minardi, as at the moment that car is a dog and I simply can't see Minardi getting close to anyone...?

[Nordic]

And if you read my whole post, you will see that I was making the exact same point.

Good point, sorry

The Minardi brand is too weak,

And too tainted by Paul Stoddart's other interests for a large PR aware company to touch.

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally posted by spider
Minardi's trouble is that they don't come across in the same way Sauber do - efficient and utterly professional.

I used to have a lot of time for Sauber in sports cars, but as an F1 team they leave me completely cold. They are the very definition of mediocrity, and always have been -- and remember, this is a team that's been (in effect) the Mercedes and Ford works team, and is now in all but name the Ferrari B-team. They've never won anything, never looked like winning anything, and have never looked as though they'll move significantly forwards or backwards on the grid. There is nothing interesting about Sauber's F1 effort!

[Gt_R]

I think its natural for people to completely overlook a mid-field team, especially when the midfield team is Sauber, who isn't as attention grabbing as their immediate rivals Jordan/Jaguar.

It's easy to remember who qualified on the front row, and who qualified at the back..easy to remember who won a race and who got Disqualified. But if i were to ask who qualified in the middle of the grid in which race, off mind, many would stumble for an answer.

So while people can easily remember who did well or who did bad..its those in the middle that often got mixed or forgotten

[cds_uk]

Fell in love with Minardi back in 85, just thought the Simod livery was so cool, i seem to remember the PR photo was the car and about a dozen guys standing outside the factory being described as "the team", anyway that won me over and i have remained loyal since then and would never dream of deserting them. GO MINARDI.

[Knowlesy]

I'll probably upset some people by saying this, but Minardi don't really do it for me.

I admire their tenacity and gritty determination to survive.

But I think they do a shocking job really at times. I know they have a tiny budget, but teams have done far better than Minardi do on budgets not much larger. Minardi simply just seem to be there, slowly falling further away from the pace, showing zero improvement every year. It's pathetic.

F1 needs as many teams as it can muster but I don't think Minardi would be a big loss. It would be a damn shame, but I wouldn't be spilling any tears. Jordan on the other hand......now that would be a loss. They seem to be reaching the maximum their budget will allow. Minardi are far from that.

I hope they get taken over by a big company fairly soon to breathe some life into them.

[Teretonga]

Minardi don't really do it for me either but I would hate to see them go away.
I am very mindful of the fact that they have always run at the back apart from some inspired drives by Pier Luigi Martini about 10-12 years ago when he put the car on the front row at one event and a third or fourth place finish somewhere else.

The present problems stem simply from the huge amounts that manufacturers spend up, Jordan's fortunes are evidence of that. Sauber has the backing of a major bank (part owner) and a petrochemicals giant who spends a fortune on second hand engines, and they are still scrapping over 10th place when five or six runners drop out.

If we lost the manufacturers huge budgets and ended up with a grid full of Cosworth, Illmor and Judd leased or bought engines, Minardi would probably not be in the top five teams but the field would be much more even than it presently is, and an inspired Martini Alonso or Webber would be putting whatever car they built in midfield grid positions.

Stoddy is to be admired for what he has done. he risked his small fortune to take on a dream he had always had. he saved minardi in that sense-it would have died had he not taken it on. Now he has to try to keep it it going in the face of almost impossible odds, and add value to the brand against the might of some of the biggest industrial automative conglomerates on the planet and all a whole bunch of 'enthusiasts' can do is run him down.

How many of his detractors, if given $30 million in a lump some, and the choice to bank it or invest in a F1 team, would be prepared to take on Jordan and the responsibility to restore it a front running team. Most of us wouldn't have the guts to have ago at trying to do, we'd take the cash and retire in comfort to our computers where we could slag off at people like Stoddy who have the courage to actually try.

[oziengineer]

Generally, alot of people like an underdog, but i haven't seen many people who like the minardi team. They would be good if they held there role as a team that broke young drivers into F1, but that role isn't holding, as it doesn't seem to be much of an accolade to be a minardi driver, even if u are a young up and comer.

[Redlake27]

The fact is Minardi is a business. Paul Stoddart knows that he can get multi million dollar pay drivers to buy a seat in a poor car, just to be in F1. Kiesa, Wilson, Bruni, Baumgartner. And even the likes of Webber, Alonso, Fisichella and Trulli were funded by their managers to give some F1 experience.

There is nothing wrong with that! I'm sure Paul doesn't do it for the passion, because since the mid 90s Minardi have changed their strategy from optimising results to optimising budget. F1 is business, and i'm sure Stoddart does well from it.

Minardi came into F1 in 1985. I remember some glorious moments. DeCesaris tugging the old M185 into the top 6 in Brazil 86 (before running dry......), Martini on the front row in Phoenix in 90, and leading at Estoril in 89. Martini's Minardi-Ferrari outperforming the Ferraris in 1991. A flurry of points in 1993 when Fittipaldi and Barbrazza were regular top 6 finishers. Since then, apart from Badoer and Gene running in the top 6 at the Nurburgring in 1999 there have been no flashes of form, but nevertheless, seeing a Webber or Alonso poke a Minardi into 16th on the grid is an achievement.

Long may they continue!

[Kicking-back]

Long may they continue, indeed.

However, I don't imagine Stoddard makes a profit from Minardi.

[N I Tram]

Even though this is proabbly Minardi's worst ever driver line-up, and they're a clear last r close-to-last in every area (chassis, engine, reliability, organisation, tactics, funding), I've still got a lot of affection for the team. They really represent what f1 used to be, and what I hope it can become again. Paul Stoodart's a dreamer, an enthusiast and a thoroughly pleasant chap.

[SL]

As one of Stoddarts former airline employee's I cannot agree with the comments made here.

We were sent a letter stating that we would NOT be paid our monthly salaries and expenses, this varies from 1000 - 8000 pounds per employee. To date we have not recieved a penny nor even any indication as to if or when we will get any monies. It is particuly annoying as well to see Stoddy frittering away money on a F1 dream.

If I were a minardi employee I would be looking for cash up front.

SL