Archive for year: 2023

Not even the time to absorb what happened in Monte Carlo and is it already time to “dive into” the next round. This weekend the Formula 1 world championship will be in Montmelò in Spain.

It will certainly be interesting to evaluate, on the one hand, the major innovations announced by Ferrari and, on the other hand, verify the potential of the “new” Mercedes after the updates introduced in Monte Carlo. With the arrival in Barcelona, we will be able to have the first test of the team situation, without prejudice to the absolute domination of Red Bull.

I want to hope that what we saw a week ago in Monte Carlo does not represent the real face of Ferrari which must absolutely give a turn to its season around, as well as finding once again that peace of mind necessary to face difficulties. Lately I have seen too many drawn faces. They need to smile again and enjoy themselves. The results will come accordingly. I believe that, for the first time in his career, Fernando Alonso is also enjoying himself.

I welcomed with pleasure the news of new grafts. Having finished the period of gardening they can get to work with a view to 2024. Ferrari must inevitably reinforce its team and insert new life to start halving and then eliminating the gap from Red Bull. The road is long, but you have to start somewhere.

Monte Carlo gave us a growing Mercedes, just like Alpine (with the first point of the season) and McLaren which placed both drivers in the top ten. Monte Carlo is certainly an anomalous track, and I had the impression that, especially in McLaren, they had wagered a lot on the setup for rain.

Starting from Friday it will be interesting follow the “third tier” teams with McLaren, Alpha Tauri and Alpine. This winter Montmelò did not host the pre-season tests and therefore we can only make a comparison with 2022. In terms of the front-rank positions, I certainly do not expect an upheaval (except for disasters) with Verstappen and Perez dominating. I was amazed by the strong criticism levelled at the Mexican driver by the team. He certainly made a rookie’s mistake in qualifying but, in any case, he still won two grands prix this season.

I await free practice 1 and 2 which will inaugurate the seventh round with great trepidation, with the hope of being able to see an electrifying qualifying like a week ago and an exciting grand prix.

Gian Carlo Minardi

I look forward to the Monte Carlo weekend with pleasure to find a bit of normality after the events that strongly affected the territories of the Emilia-Romagna Region. A week after the disaster, the emergency is unfortunately not over yet and we at the Imola Circuit are trying to re-establish a touch of normality, as well as having given our contribution to the population by making the square available to house the water pumps coming from France, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Pumps which are already in operation with the capacity to extract thousands of litres of water every hour.

Amongst other things, the Local Council of Faenza, like the regional government, has decided to set up a fund raiser to support the people and the communities affected, thanks to the generosity of those who want to take part in this initiative.

On the ticket front, I also put my trust in the passion and the strength of our supporters who could reconfirm for the 2024 event. An effort by each one of them would be transformed into a big assist for the motor sport community.

In any case, the world must carry on and we have come to the weekend of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, the sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship after the cancellation of Imola. There is surely a lot of expectation both because Mercedes has brought many new developments (see suspensions and new barge boards) and for the ban on using the tyre warmers with the full wet tyres. This very experiment would have begun from Imola.

Unlike Toto Wolff’s men, Ferrari ‘s people decided to wager mainly on reliability, delaying the introduction of the new developments to Spain. We are faced with an anomalous GP in which qualifying traditionally plays a priority role. Up to now qualifying has not been a weak point for the “reds” and it could take advantage of this occasion.

The same also applies to Fernando Alonso. If he is supported adequately by the car the GP will be favourable for him. I heard the news of the Aston Martin – Honda agreement with pleasure. This is synonymous with continuity and growth. Those who enter (or come back to) the Circus to compare themselves with others is always welcome. This agreement can transform itself into a further technical leap for Aston Martin, a team in strong growth as it demonstrated in this first part of the season. Alonso-Honda? The agreement is for 2026 but, as much as I wish the best for “Nado”, it will be hard for me to see him still in the Circus for that date.

The race on the streets of Monte Carlo has been anticipated by the latest Hamilton – Ferrari “rumour”. The seven times world champion has been cornered with a downward economic agreement. I honestly think this is hard and I believe it is all talk. At the present time Ferrari has major difficulties on the car front and it would make no sense to lose a fast driver like Leclerc (even if not absent from mistakes) in favour of a driver, even if a 7 times world champion, of a certain age who at this moment has the wages of Russell. On the other hand, I do not see why Leclerc would move to Mercedes, even if with some problems to resolve, and alongside the British driver.

I would leave everything as it is and concentrate the efforts on the car.

Gian Carlo Minardi

We are at the gates of the Qatar Airways Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix , the sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship and the first round in Europe.
Up to now Red Bull has been the master: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have taken six doubles. Only Lewis Hamilton, at the Melbourne Grand Prix, managed to interrupt the streak by putting his Mercedes behind the reigning world champion and ahead of Fernando Alonso with Perez only fifth across the finish line.

One week before the GP we contacted Gian Carlo Minardi, President of Formula Imola, to understand what to expect at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit: “Imola is not only the first round in Europe but it will also be the stage for the new system of qualifying which will see all the drivers race with the same compounds in the three sessions: Hard in Q1, Medium in Q2 and Soft in Q3. I don’t know exactly what to expect but it will be interesting to analyse this new development.

“On the race front Red Bull absolutely presents itself as the favourite but most of the teams – Mercedes and Ferrari first of all – will bring new innovations onto the track to try to reduce the gap and try to put some pressure on Verstappen and Perez. Also keep an eye out for Fernando Alonso, who comes from four podium finishes in five GPs

“In the circuit we are finalising the work to welcome the fans better. Compared to the last edition we have made many changes, starting with the new stands bringing the capacity to 89,000 places (compared to the 73,000 of 2022). We have already sold more than 170,000 tickets for the three days (30,000 more than 2022). There are still 10,00 tickets available for the Sunday and a few places for Friday which is traditionally the calmest day under this respect,” said Minardi, “We plan to grow even more also thanks to the opening of three on site sales points where it will be possible to buy tickets on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We have also worked hard on the logistics front increasing the parking spaces. Furthermore, thanks to the agreement with Trenitalia it will be possible to reach Imola with the Frecciarossa, Intercity, Eurocity and regional trains and then walking the 1,200 metres through the historic city centre which separate the station from the circuit. There will be no shortage of entertainment off the track thanks to a rich Fan-zone which will be accessible with any kind of ticket.

The weekend’s intense programme will also see Formula 3, Formula 2 and the Porsche Cup on the track, “Also to be followed are the training championships which are part of FIA’s pyramid to reach F1. This is an opportunity to get to know and support the possible champions of the future. After the first two rounds in Formula 3 Gabriele Mini occupies fourth place and Leonardo Formaroli ninth place”.

In these weeks the news that Daniel Ricciardo is ready to replace Nyck de Vries after having his seat made at Alpha Tauri has been causing quite a stir. “Ricciardo is the third driver of both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri. Therefore, the seat had already been ready for some time. Unfortunately, Red Bull, and in particular Dr Helmut Marko, are known for pillorying young drivers even before giving them the opportunity to express their potential to the fullest.

“We are coming from a series of new circuits for the rookies. In Miami the drivers had only one session of free practice available before entering the heart of the weekend. I am certain that Nyck de Vries, just like Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri, hasn’t forgotten how to drive a car. With the arrival of Europe and on tracks that they know they will all have the chance to show their worth and the Imola round will be interesting from this point of view. For me Piastri is a pretender to becoming a major name in the next Formula 1,” concluded Minardi.

 

Another thorny question (together with the ban of free practice envisioned by Stefano Domenicali) taking centre stage in the paddock of the Formula World Championship is the ban – beginning in 2024 – of the tyre warmers. The project will be put to the vote which will be held after this year’s British Grand Prix which will see the teams, FIA and FOM involved.

“Currently the tyre warmers can be used for a maximum of two hours at a temperature of 70°. With the ban the approach to qualifying and the race and the pit stop strategy will need to be reviewed since the times will be longer for reaching optimal performance,” was the analysis by Gian Carlo Minardi.

“Two distinct evaluations must be made: on the one hand it is up to Pirelli to find a solution to bring the tyres up to temperature more quickly. In reality it is already working in this direction since from this year’s Imola Grand Prix the rain compounds will not be able to be warmed with the help of the tyre warmers. The road is already open.

“However, we must not forget that the tyre warmers are banned in all the formulas below F1. So this proposal is not so scandalous. In my adventure in the world championship, I myself experienced the two eras, with and without tyre warmers. As always, it is only a question of adaptation.”

Many drivers, starting with Lewis Hamilton, have put the emphasis on the factor of safety. “For years people have been talking about banning them, but the drivers have always been opposed to it. This generation of drivers and they involve the subject of safety for leverage, in order to keep them. They do not want to lose the benefit”.