Ready to go

Although the engines are still turned off,the 2016 season of Formula 1 World Championship goes live, ahead of the first common test on February 22 in Spain.Gene Haas’ s team has done its first step towards Melbourne with a favorable crash-test. “All the stables are working busily to bring on track their new car for the tests in Spain, and they are planning the possible developments ahead of Melbourne grand prix.

“Unlike what used to happen years ago, to take part to the common tests it is essential to have a shell homologated by FIA passing all its checks” Gian Carlo Minardi analyzes “Being in the weight limit allowed by the regulations. In my experience, my team didn’t pass the tests at the first attempt in a single circumstance. It was 1991, and due to an error of assessment while we were testing the deceleration, the “seat back”, that housed the reservoir, broke. This problem slowed us a lot, but we managed to limit the damage because in those years the approval to race had to arrive before of the inaugural weekend of the season. Today it is not that way. So it is an important milestone”.

Being a “newbie”, the American team will be observed in special. “Making your debut with 21 scheduled races is not easy both under an economic and logistical aspect. They have gained energies from experienced F1 men and, as we can read, they want optimize their team with a structure composed of a maximum of 200 people. I agree with this kind of management, because I find wrong to have a staff composed of 400-500 or 1000 people just to build two cars”.

In recent weeks, coming back “home” for a while in Spallanzani street, Gian Carlo Minardi has been guest at Toro Rosso. “I could visit the new establishments and I was glad to see their coordination. I am sure that, thanks to Ferari engine, they will be able to raise the bar on the reliability front, the real Achille’s heel of last season. They missed about 60-70 points especially due to the retreats of Carlo Sainz in the final laps” the manager from Faenza concludes.