The 2001 Minardi

[Jay]

Well it may not be faster than the Safety Car, but here it is:
From http://www.itv-f1.com.
I wonder if they will leave it black?

[marcus]

WOW...I like it ..I like it alot.

FORZA (OZ) MINARDI !!!!!

[DNQ]

Is that the 2001 car or just the 2000 car with new paint. Looks a lot like last years car.

[Valve Bounce]

Who is the driver?

[kuchi]

I think is last year's car, well it looks just like it. But it's a good livery tough. Like the black, but some said it may change.

[Dino IV]

Multi-element rear-wing, low front-wing, 'short' sidepods, definitely the 2000 car.

If that white spot on top of the back end of the side pod is a provisory periscope exhaust tip it could be a hybrid car with a new engine. They retained the Fords didn't they?

The driver inside is shooting star Fernando Alonso. If TV-coverage will be more focussed on action instead of red and silver you'll see a lot more of this guy this year. He showed some great creativity in pushing and overtaking drivers in F3000 so I expect him to dive inside at places where the F1 veterans have since long chosen to stay put.

[Speed]

TOO MANY SPONSORS.

[Dino IV]

Yeah and unknown ones too. Anyone ever heard of a brand called '20'?

[Speed]

No fancy outfit, no fancy showroom, Just MIB (Men In Black)

[Valve Bounce]

Dino, how can Alonso dive inside anyone with such a slow car? All he can do is to try to get the damn thing onto the grid - that would be a miracle. I am serious. Remember the first race Damon drove for Arrows, and Murray was screaming because Damon just managed to get onto the grid by the smallest of margins? Without any testing so far, no serious development of car and engine on the track, testing with the new tyres, I don't think that even TGF would be able to get the Minardi onto the grid in Melbourne.
Minardi are in a Catch 22 situation: they must get sponsors, but they cannot get a great paying sponsor without a decent engine, and they cannot get a decent works or semi works engine without a decent sponsor.
Our forum must be the official Minardi support site, judging by the amount of concern and fondness everybody has for Minardi here. We all look on Minardi as the good guys. I only make caustic comments sometimes because I am totally frustrated and I try to lighten the topic with some humour. Now we have gone past the "lets be funny" stage: we are basically two weeks away from crunch time for the first race - everything must be in order before then with zero time left to get anything else done except load the cars onto the planes and fly. Even the paperwork for the flights must be completed. You lose half a day when you fly here from England!!
I will be totally stunned if we see a Minardi on the grid - there will be one helluva big cheer from this forum if Minardi makes even the back row of the grid with one car in Melbourne!!

[Craig]

Minardi ran for the first time a day or so ago and they are not actively persuing a sponsor at this moment - all their efforts are going into getting the car to Australia in time. There are less than 20 days until the freight ships so they do have a job on their hands, but I have a funny feeling they'll pull it off. They're never gonna be racewinners, but they will be OK at the end of the day.

[Valve Bounce]

Craig, qualifying starts in 21 days plus two hours and a bit. As I said, Paul must get the cars onto the plane in just over two weeks time.

[RIKB]

For a team owned by an airline, getting to Oz is going to be no problem. I bet they can do it cheaper than Bernie can!

But getting it onto the grid will be a different problem. Little testing and development combined with a 3 year old engine, doesn't look good.

[EERO]

If they cannot meet the 107% rule in Melbourne, I'm sure it could be waved. I view Stoddardts arrival as a good thing and I think there is a strong chance that Minardi's performance will improve. No one expected much of them last season and they did a good job. Of course they haven't had the time to prepare for the coming season, but I think it will come out all right.

[Valve Bounce]

RIKB, I have to disagree about no problem getting to Melbourne. There can be all sorts of problems getting stuff cleared here in Australia, and trying to do it on a weekend only makes things worse. Allowing for one day to clear everything and transport the stuff out of the airport (I am presuming customs and quarrantine people are working at better than wombat pace) and getting it to the pits in Melbourne traffic without getting lost, then an all nighter to unload and get the cars sorted out, one day in real time to fly the stuff to Australia, plus a loss of half a day in time travelling East, I can see that if the plane does not take off by Saturday 24th of Feb, (two weeks time), there will be a snaafu at this end before getting the cars onto the track for 1st practice.
I wonder whether the Stewards have the power to waive the 107% rule in this case. Previously this rule has been waived only when the car has actually been timed at better than the required time during official practice, but cannot get the required time in because of mechanical problems or crashes during quals. Don't get me wrong, I want to see Minardi on the grid, not in the pits. I am just looking ahead at all the problems, and I can't see how anyone can get Minardi onto the starting grid in Melbourne.

[R]

That car looks like a lean, mean racing machine, and all the better with Alonso in it. I hope it stays black, it looks ultra-cool! (Hey, MF, ready for another member of the clan?)

I also think Minardi will make it to Melbourne, but whether or not they qualify within the 107 % rule is another question. I sincerely hope the rules can be bent if they don't, F1 needs as full a grid as possible, and the idea of the grid being reduced even further to 20 cars is hopefully just as little appealing to the powers that be as it is to me. Dino's description of Alonso's driving style is spot on, but so is Valve Bounce's realistic comment about the speed of the Minardi this year. Hopefully it'll be better a few races into the season, I sincerely hope Alonso can show glimpses of what he's good for at least at some venues this year.

[Liz]

Beauty of a car. Forza Minardi! May they live to race long and prosper, and beat BAR if they can't beat anyone else.

Next to Prost, they are my favourite underdog team.

[Bononi]

Hope they make it.
Nice black car, they should let it stay this way !

[DNQ]

Minardi deserve to be on the grid at Albert Park. Let's hope Alonso and his team mate make it on the grid, and beat Arrows or Jaguar!

[Jay]

Even if they do manage to get 2 cars to Melbourne, it will take a miracle to get them on the grid. I can't see any way that they will be anywhere near the pace of even Arrows.

[Minardi fan]

According to Stoddart, the car is already as fast as some of the other teams. He has however said not to expect anything for at least the first 3 races, and nothing much from this season.

[Dino IV]

Don't be so pessimistic, Valve Bounce. Although activity may seem low, I don't think Gustav stopped working on figuring out a nice package within the new rules. For that matter Gustav is still of the brightest lights in the paddock and minimal budget is only a boost in being more inventive and creative so please never ever underestimate the Faenza squad. Over the past decade they closed down the gap to the dominating WCC-cars from something like 6 seconds and more to little over 2 seconds on most tracks so I don't think they'll fall back a lot this time. Okay, they're gambling on the Michelins like some other teams and they've a small chance of benefitting from that especially if the wheather will be advantageous and yes, the traction control veto by the Ferrari-maffia won't help them either to close the electronic gap to the front a bit. But it's a good thing - at least Gustav will think of it that way I guess - they got hold of the very compact Ford's instead of the powerful but big Supertec-lump. So under some circumstances they can do surprisingly well. Normally they will be the backmarkers as usual now that Prost has got hold of a much better package and Jag is putting the power down. But you never know how the Arrows will perform. Their suspension plus the rule changes plus the ol' Pug may cause enough problems for them to become Minardi' prey. Fingers crossed and cheer 'em on!

[Valve Bounce]

This morning's news saw the announcement of new colours for Minardi - the car will sport the colours of Paul Stoddart's favourite football club :Collingwood. The fact that the fortune of the Magpies have paralleled Minardi's in recent years is bad enough, and the announcement was made with a shot of Mazza going around in the yellow Minardi with a blown engine is ominous, most worrying is the fact that Minardi's Livery will be black and white with Collingwood Football Club painted on the entire side of the car . This only indicates that Stoddart has not been able to find a main sponsor of any paying substance, because Collingwood is surely not going to pour any money into Minardi.
Dino, I wish I had your optimism, but sooner or later we all must face reality. There is no way that I can talk up that Fondmetal historic engine, and the fact that Minardi has only just secured the use of Michelins hardly suggests that they have been testing with the tyre to any great distance anywhere with any sigficant times. If Minardi even makes the 107% time in Melbourne (as against any sympathetic allowance to get onto the grid), I will jump into the Brisbane River with joy. I can only pray that they do make the grid, and then find some benevolent sponsor.