And so it ends...Minardi are now history...RIP Minardi

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MINARDI PASSES INTO HISTORY
Last Updated: Thursday, 24, November, 2005, 18:13



The Minardi name officially passed in to the history books on Thursday after team owner Paul Stoddart completed the final lap of its last test at Vallelunga on Thursday.

The emotional Australian, who sold the team to Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz in September, admitted he was choked as he became the last man ever to drive a contemporary Minardi.

Former Minardi drivers Gianni Morbidelli and Marc Gene, as well as many of the team's devoted fans turned up to witness its sad end.

"It turned out a more emotional experience than I expected to be the last person to drive a Minardi F1 car," said Stoddart.

"For so many years, Minardi has tried to give so much to so many, and it has been very touching this week to have received so many positive comments."

Giancarlo Minardi first brought his small constructor into Formula 1 in 1985.

And while the Faenza-based team never grew to be anything more than a solid midfield runner in the early-'90s, it nurtured a cult following as it out-lasted several larger, better-financed efforts.

Minardi seemed to be forever on a financial knife-edge but by the turn of the century however it was clearly struggling for funds.

Six weeks before the start of the 2001 season Stoddart swept in to give the team a much-needed financial lease of life.

The Australian has put up a spirited and vocal fight in his struggle to survive against the might of the manufacturers for the last five years, but even he was eventually forced to give best and sell up.

The outfit will now become Red Bull's B-team in 2006.

"Now the team has moved on to become Scuderia Toro Rosso, I wish them every success, although I know I'm not alone in thinking it will always be Minardi in the minds of so many people," said Stoddart.

"On a final note, Minardi is only what it is because of the people within the team, and I have enjoyed the best five years of my life working with some truly professional individuals.

"Thank you to all of them."

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Laters,

Montana_UK

Amen

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am sad to see them go remember back to 1989 when they were starting high up the grid towards the end of the year.

And in 1993 when they got some good results

1994 was a good season as well as they have two good and hugely experienced drivers in Martini and Alboreto, and they often challanged for points places during the race. Unfortunately that was peak of Minardi's success, and the journey down was much steeper than the journey up. Before 1995 they could still be competative in the midfield - usually qualifying somewhere in the mid-teens on the grid out of 26 cars (of course Martini got a Minardi as high as second on the grid once of course - and also led a lap of another race too) but 95 onwards they struggled to get off the back of the grid which was a crying shame really.

I am quite sad since I'm an ardent Minardi fan - but at the same time I'm happy because Minardi did not fold up and just die like so many other teams have - it's merely been sold on, technically like it was sold on to Paul Stoddart to begin with. And with Red Bull I do see longer-term stability - so the team, if not the name, will survive.

I guess until Red Bull abandons Faenza completely and moves the operation to Britain...

RIP Minardi

I'm gonna mis Minardi. It was one of my favorite teams. RIP Minardi

Why is everyone sad about seeing one of the worst preforming teams in F1 history, die, and be handed over to a company with a personality, who are commited to motorsports?

Minardi have constantly been at the back of the grid. They may have survived, but have always been poor. Red Bull have the money to take the team to the top, and its using the same staff, so its not much differnet

I prefer Red Bulls press releases over Stoddarts whinning any day.

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Minardi have constantly been at the back of the grid. They may have survived, but have always been poor. Red Bull have the money to take the team to the top, and its using the same staff, so its not much differnet

money isn't everything

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i do know what u mean dave

just it used to be nice when they scored a point or 2 for them it was like wining a race

the fact that they all tried so hard knowing they would never score gave them enough respect for me.

in 2002 the mechanics stayed up all Saturday nite repairing webbers car for the race and it ended up scoring.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

RIP minardi. When ever there i would get in from work to see practise results i would look for minardi to see how they were getting on, they will be misssed.

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RIP minardi. When ever there i would get in from work to see practise results i would look for minardi to see how they were getting on, they will be misssed.

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anze89 Wrote:
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> Minardi have constantly been at the back of the
> grid. They may have survived, but have always been
> poor. Red Bull have the money to take the team to
> the top, and its using the same staff, so its not
> much differnet
>
> money isn't everything

And how do you suggest improving the performance in f1, if money isnt everything? In F1, money is 90% of it

Lets put it like this:

Minardi were at the back of th grid and struggling. any year, the team could have died and lost all the jobs. Now, the jobs will stay for X years - this is a fact. They are now healthier than before in terms of money, and will most likely be on the grid for a good 10 years or so. Red Bull is commited to motorsports as they have previously shown, so there is much chance of them pulling out

Red Bull is also not a faceless organisation like most companies. They provide massive motorsport funding accross the world in all different types of motorsport. they also go into extreme sports such as skateboard, rollerblading, hanggliding, power boat racing, and the famous "Red Bull Air Race". Its not always on an international level either, my local skatepark is sponsoted by Red Bull, and most of the funding is from them

Minardi only had one place to go - to the grave. They had not improved in 10 years and were not going to. There track record was actually exceptionally poor. Now the staff can actually look forward to not being last on the grid. And, to top it off, we wont have to put up with crap pay drivers filling the driver seats since Red Bull arent interested in that, which means we'll get some real talent in the cars now!

I see very little downsides to this. Red Bull Racing has been a blessing to F1 in many ways.

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DaveEllis: I prefer Red Bulls press releases over Stoddarts whinning any day

True, but not really in context here - Paul Stoddart has been a very, very small part of Minardi's history. And granted, RedBull have a lot of personality but so have Mianrdi. Whilst their 2-seater races, mosaic-ed pit garages, communal paddock BBQs and multiple driver changes don't appear to have much impact on F1 to the spectator, they are mostl ikely things that will be missed in the F1 fraterntity.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> anze89 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Minardi have constantly been at the back of
> the
> > grid. They may have survived, but have always
> been
> > poor. Red Bull have the money to take the
> team to
> > the top, and its using the same staff, so its
> not
> > much differnet
> >
> > money isn't everything
>
> And how do you suggest improving the performance
> in f1, if money isnt everything? In F1, money is
> 90% of it
>
> Lets put it like this:
>
> Minardi were at the back of th grid and
> struggling. any year, the team could have died and
> lost all the jobs. Now, the jobs will stay for X
> years - this is a fact. They are now healthier
> than before in terms of money, and will most
> likely be on the grid for a good 10 years or so.
> Red Bull is commited to motorsports as they have
> previously shown, so there is much chance of them
> pulling out
>
> Red Bull is also not a faceless organisation like
> most companies. They provide massive motorsport
> funding accross the world in all different types
> of motorsport. they also go into extreme sports
> such as skateboard, rollerblading, hanggliding,
> power boat racing, and the famous "Red Bull Air
> Race". Its not always on an international level
> either, my local skatepark is sponsoted by Red
> Bull, and most of the funding is from them
>
> Minardi only had one place to go - to the grave.
> They had not improved in 10 years and were not
> going to. There track record was actually
> exceptionally poor. Now the staff can actually
> look forward to not being last on the grid. And,
> to top it off, we wont have to put up with crap
> pay drivers filling the driver seats since Red
> Bull arent interested in that, which means we'll
> get some real talent in the cars now!
>
> I see very little downsides to this. Red Bull
> Racing has been a blessing to F1 in many ways.
>
>

I agree with almost everything you've said except the part about the drivers filling the seats. Red Bull seems like an organization very biased to the drivers in their own junior program and this season and next seasons line up is testament to that. If they had taken over Minardi a few years earlier you think we ever wouldve seen the current world champ in one of their cars,a relative Spanish unknown at the time? I think not!

Red Bull do want there own drivers yes, but why did they chose these drivers? In Speeds case, because hes a yank, in the others case, because there good. Much better than your average pay driver

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I prefer Red Bulls press releases over Stoddarts whinning any day.

Damn right! all stoddart did was bloody whing!! imo he killed minardi, he reminds me of louis walsh, another little whinging pratt!!

DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Red Bull do want there own drivers yes, but why
> did they chose these drivers? In Speeds case,
> because hes a yank, in the others case, because
> there good. Much better than your average pay
> driver
>
>


so if Red Bull had taken over Minardi a few years ago you wouldve rather seen guys like Liuzzi and Jani in the car rather than newcomers like Alonso and Webber? Because thats probably what wouldve ended up happening. Red Bull wouldve definitely favored drivers coming up through their program rather than look at talents in other categories and thats something I dont like about their system and I really hope theyre not so rigid about that in the years to come.

Except that it was Renault/Briatore that gave Alonso and Webber Minardi drives.

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