F1 | Minardi “A heart stopping beginning but the teams are looking for their dimension”

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We are approaching only the third grand prix, to be held in China this weekend, yet between Australia and Bahrain the twists and moments of high tension were not lacking. Just look at the reliability problems with the gearbox suffered by the two Mercedes drivers, the mistakes by Red Bull, the finish at Sakir with only a 6 tenths of a second gap between Vettel and Bottas and passing through the wonderful surprise Toro Rosso.

We are in a period in which the teams are looking for their dimensions since the world championship began after only eight days of tests, conditioned by bad weather and rain. It was certainly not enough. The real forces at play have not yet emerged. We have had fluctuating performances between qualifying and the race, even though Ferrari scored two well deserved wins with Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari exploited 101% of the potential of its car and its driver who covered an impressive number of laps never done with the Softs.

However, analyzing the times Mercedes is still very fast, above all with the Medium mixes, and in China Pirelli will up put up the Softs and Ultra Softs. Therefore it will be interesting to see the behaviour and strategies that will be adopted on a track that traditionally favours Toto Wolff’s men.

Toro Rosso was very good at exploiting Red Bull’s debacle with Gasly, the protagonist of an exceptional weekend. His sequence of laps was impressive and this allowed him to safeguard the result from any charge by Magnussen and to grab an incredible fourth place. I hope that they can continue on this road and that the air of Motor Valley also does well for the Honda Power Unit.

The most interesting new developments compared to last season came from the second part of the grid with the TR surprise together with excellent performances from Haas and a good defence by Renault with McLaren which is now in third place on the championship ladder. The results of Force India’s after two seasons in fourth place and from Williams are decidedly below expectations.

These augur well to be able to witness again such interesting and adrenaline charged grands prix with a notable compaction of the grid. At Sakir qualifying gave us twenty cars within a gap of 3”.

Gian Carlo Minardi

From the F1 Surtees's Cooper T51 to Formula E | Between the Present and the Future the 2018 HMD narrates half a century of racing competitions

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“Without the Past there is no Present and Future” These are the first words that Gian Carlo Minardi pronounced when speaking of the Historic Minardi Day to be held on May 5th and 6th at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit which this year celebrates its third edition.
“Never before have we covered such a wide span of time beginning with the 1960s up to the present day with the World Champion Mercedes W07 Hybrid and Formula E which will be on show at Brisighella at the Bandini Trophy” continued Gian Carlo Minardi.
During the weekend more than a hundred vehicles are expected which tell nearly half a century of sporting competitions. It begins with the 1963 Cooper T51,  the first F1 car bought by world champion John Surtees to start his career in the world Championship, and then the Ferrari B2 of a decade later, the ’72 Martini Racing Tecno, the Surtees F5000, the 1976 6 wheeled Tyrell P34 and Theodore TR1, continuing on to the March 761, the Minardi M185 which debuted in the Brazil Grand Prix at the Jacarepaguà Circuit with Pierluigi Martini tgether with its “sisters” M186, M189, M193, PS04B and the Alfa Romeo powered Benetton, Fondmetal, Dallara, Osella, Fittipaldi F8 driven in 1980by Emerson Fittipaldi and Keke Rosberg, Damon Hill’s 198 Jordan, the Arrows A11 designed by Ross Brawn, A20 and A21, the latter driven by Jos Verstappen in the 2001 world championship, the Ferrari F92A and world champion F2002 with Michael Schumacher, the STR03 Toro Rosso with which Sebastian Vettel had his first F1 win at the Monza track and the STR13 and the Mercedes W04 that won three grands prix in 29013 will be taken on the track by Aldo Costa. Together with the Formula 1 cars, there will be room reserved for cars from F2, F3, F3000 and Formulas Abarth and Italia which trained champions. In addition, there will be GT cars and Prototypes from the main constructors such as Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Caterham, Lamborghini, Lavaggi, Lotus, Lucchini and Jaguar

The historic cars of the 1st Savio Circuit Trophy will wind their way around the roads of the wonderful medieval hamlets, before returning to the Circuit next to the Santerno River with a gara di regolarità turistica that will begin on Saturday May 5th in conjunction with the Historic Minardi Day.

From this year the Minardi Day and the Bandini Trophy will combine their synergies. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes – AMG Petronas Motorsport’s driver will receive the coveted prize which this year reached its 25th edition. The Finn driver, who will also be present on the Saturday afternoon at the Circuit for a round of signing autographs, will drive to Brisighella’s Spada Amphitheatre at wheel of the world champion Mercedes WO7 from Faenza’s Piazza del Popolo to receive the trophy at 6.00pm. Amongst those awarded that evening will be ACI President and FIA Vice President Angelo Sticchi Damiani, Aldo Costa the F1 world champion’s designer, Roccardo Mosconi, Lewis Hamilton’s track engineer and Dilbagh Gill, team owner and CEO of Team Mahindra, the protagonist of the Formula E championship which this year will be in Rome for the first time. At the wheel of the M4ELECTRO will be Nick Heidfeld who will put on an electrifying show amongst the streets of Brisighella, exploiting the 200 KW of power which is able to reach 100 km/hour in less than 3 seconds.

“We await you all at the Imola pits to experience together half a century of Motorsport” concluded Gian Carlo Minardi.

TICKETS
It is possible to purchase tickets for single days or for the whole weekend through TicketOne, or directly at the Circuit. The tickets give access to the paddock and the pits of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit and all the events in the programme, as well as to be able to take laps of the track aboard a Supercar driven by professional drivers.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE
In order to always keep up to date with the numerous new developments tied to the third edition of the Historic Minardi Day visit our website and the social channels by using the official hashtags #HMD e #HistoricMinardiDay
Here are the addresses:
WEBSITE:
http://minardiday.it/
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/minardiday/
TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/minardi09

F1 | Gp Melbourne, PRESENTATION by Gian Carlo Minardi

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With the Melbourne Grand Prix the long F1 season will begin and it will be characterized by 21 rounds to which, in addition to the strategies tied to the Pirelli mixes (this year the range of colours has grown with the two new compounds), the SuperHard and the HyperSoft) we must add the unknown factor of the kilometres run with the power-units which will have to support a load of seven GPs per unit.

It will be a weekend full of questions which will be able to give us the first answers on the season. With its two drivers Ferrari set the best times at Barcelona by concentrating mainly on the Soft and SuperSoft mixes, unlike Mercedes which ran nearly all of its laps with the Mediums, except for some long runs with the SuperSoft.

The reigning Champions showed that they are extremely competitive from all points of view and it looks like there will be a three way battle with Ferrari and Red Bull, with the latter team very sly in the tests but may have a few more problems of reliability. A battle of nerves has also begun, as can be understood by Lewis Hamilton’s declaration that he wagers on the RB14 as the main rival as it can rely on the strong motivations of its two drivers with Max Verstappen on his third season, while Daniel Ricciardo is at the end of his contract.

It will be interesting to see the attitude of McLaren and Toro Rosso which this winter “swapped” engines. During the free tests TR certainly amazed us by completing a high number of laps, unlike the team from Woking which had some problems of reliability due to which we see few positive signs as was evident from the chassis that had no brands. All eyes will be pointed on the revelation of the last two seasons, Force India. After confirming its fourth place in the world championship it suffered some problems. Last year Ferrari won by taking advantage of some errors by Mercedes in the first races and then they “returned” the favour in the hottest months. In short, we have all the ingredients for experiencing an intense weekend of racing beginning on Friday.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | Minardi “Ferrari and Red Bull on the prowl for Mercedes”

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Ferrari said goodbye to the tests in Spain with both its drivers at the head of the ladder and strengthened by the record time set by Sebastian Vettel with the HyperSofts (1:17.182) followed by Kimi Raikonnen 39 thousands of a second behind (1:17.221) and 929 laps on the board and 4,324 kilometres run during the eight days of tests.

McLaren-Renault closed in third place with Fernando Alonso who on the last day struck a blow by breaking the barrier of 1:18 with Pirelli’s softest mix (1:17.782) in front of Daniel Ricciardo (1:18.047) who with the Red Bull covered 1,694km which then become a total of 3,644 with the work carried out by Max Verstappen.

We need to go down to only eighth place to find the first Mercedes WO9. Lewis Hamilton did not go under 1:18.400 with the UltraSofts covering a total of 456 laps and 2,123 kilometres (4,842 in total with Nottas).

“This is a ladder that does not reflect the forces at play, even if the good reliability reached by nearly all the teams and the coming together of the times emerge. Despite Ferrari’s times, the declarations made by Mario Isola regarding the gap between the various mixes together with the work programme carried out by Hamilton and Bottas (who ran mainly with the Medium tyres) show that Mercedes once more has an extra gear compared to the others. We also need to keep our eye on Red Bull which, in my opinion, did not show its full potential. There will be another head to head with Ferrari,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi.

TORO ROSSO the surprise. MCLAREN and SAUBER the disappointments

“In less than two weeks in Melbourne the teams will be called to show their cards and we will have a more detailed picture of the situation,” continued the manager from Faenza who was surprised by Toro Rosso and the many kilometres completed by its two drivers, but disappointed by McLaren and Sauber, “Despite the temperatures that were certainly not high McLaren had a number of heating problems even having to change to power units. After the changes at Sauber with the addition of new technicians and the arrival of the 2018 Ferrari PU I expected a smaller gap”

THE POWER UNITS: STRATEGY WITHIN STRATEGY

Before finishing his intervention the manager from Faenza pointed out another aspect that will play an important part in the season. “In addition to the strategies tied to the mixes and fuel consumption it will be interesting watching the movements of the motors. Some teams could use one or more units than the three allowed by the regulations for each driver – certainly running into penalties – but being able to exploit better the motor means having more potential on hand,” concluded Minardi.

F1 | Gian Carlo Minardi “Mercedes has no rivals. At Barcelona it can lap in 1.16”

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The final four days of tests at Barcelona have been filed away. Luckily, unlike the previous week, the weather was decidedly milder and this allowed the drivers to cover many more kilometres. The most important fact that hit the eye was the reliability achieved by the teams, with the exception of McLaren, and by the compactness of the group. It looks like being a season with some changes to the grid.

The most important surprise came from Toro Rosso which, leaving aside the timing, covered many kilometres showing that the combination of chassis-Honda motor works. Positive results also came from Renault. Hulkenberg and Sainz put together some interesting performances in preparation for a good leap up the ladder.

The pace of Hamilton and Bottas at the wheel of the Mercedes was impressive as they worked mainly on the Medium mixes. In only one day they ran more than 200 laps and covered the distance for nearly a whole season in the two sessions (4,841km).

According to the indications given by Pirelli we can have an indication of the potential of the cars, even though we still have the unknown factor of the fuel load. The supplier declared that there is a gap between the HyperSoft and the Medium mixes of 2.5” (Medium-Soft 0.8” –> Soft-SuperSoft 0.42” –> SuperSoft-UltraSoft 0.6” –> UltraSoft-HyperSoft 0.7”). On the basis of the 1’17”1 made by Vettel and Raikonnen’s 1’17”2 with the pink mixes. In this play of numbers we must also put Red Bull into strong consideration.

In two weeks time at Melbourne the teams will be forced to uncover their cards and the mosaic of the real differences will be revealed. It will be an intense and very tactical season not only on the tyres, but also on the management of the power units. Some could sacrifice places on the grid by paying the penalties for the use of a higher number of power-units compared to the three units required by the regulations.

We must make separate considerations for McLaren which, despite the mild temperatures, suffered some heating problems which led to the replacement of two power units. The time of 1’17”7 made by Fernando Alonso is a good time, but almost certainly came with a light fuel load and a new motor. There are few happy signals for Williams as well where, for the moment, the two young drivers are not giving the answers that the team expects with Sirotkin putting Stroll under pressure, even if Robert Kubica is showing the best performances of the three. Compared to the last two seasons Force India seems to lag behind, while Sauber has not shown the signs of revival that would have been expected after a disastrous season in 2017.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Barcelona, Test Session 1 | Gian Carlo Minardi “Is Mercedes already daunting?”

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If we can judge a good day by the morning Mercedes can sleep peacefully. In the course of these first four days, which were then reduced to three because of the snowfall on Wednesday, Bottas and Hamilton drove constantly with the Pirelli Medium Mixes (unlike Vettel and Raikonnen who worked with the Soft) and they finished their work with the best time set by the World Champion who clocked an important 1.19.333, despite a heavy load of fuel.

The first session was assuredly conditioned by the bad weather and the very low temperatures in which we saw the gap between the first and the last come down and with good reliability by all. Under this point of view Toro Rosso was surely the team that was most watched and it came out of the tests with full marks. Only in today’s session they managed to complete 147 laps.

The pair of Alonso-Vandoome also managed a lot of laps, even if the best time of 1.19.854 was made with the HyperSoft mix. There was one worrying sign when, despite the cold, McLaren had to open some of the slits of the chassis to let the Renault engine breath.

Ferrari also covered a lot of laps and it ended the programme with 120 laps on the plus side for Sebastian Vettel to which must be added Tuesday’s 98 laps (best time of 1.19.673 with the Soft) and the other 80 covered by Kimi Raikonnen on the first day.

After Red Bull’s positive start (Ricciardo set the best time on the first day and covered 105 laps) they lost the way and closed the session with only 35 laps completed by Max Verstappen who was the author of a track exit which interrupted the session.

We got our first taste, but it is still too early to judge. During the days of the break the teams will be able to analyse the data they collected before going back on track for the second session which will give us some better hints for Melbourne (with the hope for hotter weather). It will be interesting to follow Robert Kubica’s work for Williams. The Pole constantly showed better times than the two official drivers, while Leclerc and Sauber started with the right foot.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Tests Barcelona, tomorrow the spotlight will be on the 2018 season

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The tradition has been confirmed. Even this year the Montmelò track circuit will see the debut of the new racing cars that were presented over the last few days (with the exception of Force India). It will begin on Monday 26th with the first of two rounds of collective tests each of four days (from the 26th to March 1st and March 6th to 9th) before leaving for the first grand prix of the season in Australia on the Melbourne street circuit.

The teams and drivers will be called upon to carry out a lot of work whose main aim will be the collection of as much information as possible whether aerodynamic (comparing them with those of the wind tunnel and the simulator), as well as the behaviour of the new Pirelli mixes and testing the reliability of the power-units that have to resist the extra kilometres, equal to seven grands prix per unit (to avoid incurring penalties).

According to the weather forecasts the four days will be conditioned by rain and cold with temperatures between 2 and 6°C. If for the moment the fear of snow seems to have been averted, the work of the Formula 1 teams at Montmelò will be accompanied by a wet track on Tuesday and Wednesday while the forecast is for a sunny day for the final session with temperatures around 10°C.

In the Ferrari camp, Kimi Raikonnen will break the ice for the SF71-H leaving the wheel for Sebastian Vettel on Tuesday and Wednesday with the Finn going back on track on Wednesday. Whereas in Red Bull it will be once more Daniel Ricciardo’s turn to get into the car after the unlucky day of filming at Silverstone which ended with the car going off track. The Australian will be on the track again on Wednesday 28th while Max Verstappen will continue the work on Tuesday and Thursday.

Fernando Alonso will begin McLaren’s programme by taking out the MCL33 with the Renault engine for the first day of tests in Barcelona while Stoffel Vandoome will have to wait the following day to begin getting the measure of the new orange and blue car.

As we wait for Mercedes to officialise the work programme for its drivers, Williams has opted for a real relay with Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin (in his debut in F1) swapping places at the wheel of the FW41 by taking to the track for half a day each. In this rotation there will also be space for Robert Kubica who this year will be the test driver. As well as having given the car its first shakedown at Aragon, the Polish driver will take to the track at Barcelona on the afternoons of Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th.

Everyone will be looking at Force India, the true revelation of the last two seasons with successive fourth places. Despite not having yet fixed the date for its presentation, it has officialised the programme for its drivers at Barcelona. In the first four days of tests all the drivers under contract will be involved and the debut will be entrusted to Nikita Mazepin, while the regular drivers Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez will get into the action on the second and third days. Nicholas Latifi will close the programme.

In the course of the four days Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly will alternate at the wheel of the Honda powered STR13 and the New Zealander will get the ball rolling. The official presentation of the new car is set for tomorrow (Monday 26th) right in pit lane a few minutes before the start of the session, even though the team itself gave us a preview during the shakedown at Misano.

After having taken advantage of Thursday and the 100km allowed by the regulations for the filming day, Marcus Ericsson will take the wheel of the Alfa Romeo Sauber C37 for its official debut on Monday. The Swede will also be at the wheel on Wednesday 28th, while on Tuesday and Thursday the work will be carried out by Formula 2 champion and debutant Charles Leclerc. The team from Hinwil will work to try to cancel last year’s disappointing season which ended in last place. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen will swap places at the wheel of the Haas with the Frenchman called to get the ball rolling.

All eyes will also be on the Haas Renault R.S.18. After the publication of the images by the team, the Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul has already stated that what has been seen so far does not reflect the real forms of the new racing car, but only its new colour scheme. All we can do is wait for the first laps of the circuit.

HOUSE MINARDI | Good weather can be seen in the morning

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Monday the spotlight will officially fall on the 2018 Formula 1 world championship with the first four (of eight) days of testing at the Barcelona track which will pre-empt the Melbourne Grand Prix. In the last few days we had the first (virtual) taste with the presentation of the first cars. Haas, Williams, Red Bull, Sauber and Renault lifted the covers showing the new lines and above all the new liveries that will colour the starting grid of the 21 grands prix, as we await Mercedes and Ferrari which will show them today (Thursday February 22nd).

We expect a demanding season characterized by the novelty of the Halo (as well as only three motors per driver) which created hard work for the teams in planning and testing the chassis. Halo has changed the philosophy and the physiognomy of the racing cars. Since it is in front of the driver’s head and placed high on the vehicle it has changed the centre of gravity of the vehicles and forced the engineers to review the weight distribution.

I could see from the photos that the cars are very beautiful with interesting technological solution and enchanting colour schemes. I await the first tests at Montmelò with a lot of curiosity and in order to understand what could be the forces in the field. Good weather can be seen in the morning.

Gian Carlo Minardi
* The video was recorded on Tuesday February 20th.

F1 | Minardi “Force India could be the possible surprise” Here’s why…

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If, on the one hand Liberty Media is grappling with some dissent – the latest in order of time the decision to say goodbye to the grid girls which is generating a lot of protests from the enthusiasts – there is also an air of some nervousness within the teams due to the awareness that at Brackley the World Champions are not yet satisfied and that they are sharpening their weapons in view of the new season

Once more the strong point should be the new German Power-Unit which is getting ready to break the 1,000cv barrier, as stated by its Head motor engineer Andy Cowell. With the new regulations (three units available per driver in a long season of 21 grands prix) the PUs will be a vital component for achieving the final results.

“Certainly the teams are working quickly on the new cars, but the news that is coming from Brackley in England makes us think that the new season will be labelled Mercedes. In this new era for F1 the power-unit is a very important component and even more so this season with the new regulations,” was the analysis from Gian Carlo Minardi.

“If the rumours are confirmed on the track Mercedes’ client teams will also have a big benefit, with Force India with an advantage over its direct rivals. They come from two noteworthy seasons, finishing in fourth place, and it can count on a very good pair of young drivers (Perez and Ocon, editor’s note) and on a solid organization. I expect that Williams will be behind after having decided to bet on a pair of very young drivers (Stroll and Sirotkin, editor’s note). Force India could prove to be the surprise package in 2018. Against this, the rumours say that Renault is a little behind schedule” concluded the manager from Faenza.

Maranello is warned. Beware of the “pink panther” of the battle hardened Sergio Peréz and Esteban Ocon.

F1 | Gian Carlo Minardi is optimistic about Giovanizzi’s future

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“Everyone recognized positively the work Giovinazzi did last season.”

These were the first words by Gian Carlo Minardi when asked by www.minardi.it about the future of the young driver from Martina Franca who this year will have the role of third driver for both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo-Sauber. It will be a season “on the bench” for the young man from Apulia but the manager from Faenza says he is confident.

“I am sad that Antonio is still a spectator at this stage. If I still had a team I would probably have given him his debut a few years ago. His situation is muddled, but a lot will depend on Ferrari’s beginning to the season as we have a Raikonnen on the verge of forty years of age who, should he not give some sign of confirming what is expected of him, could set off an earthquake of changes of drivers’ seats. I am moderately optimistic about his future,” continued the ex constructor from Faenza.

Giovinazzi took part in a Formula E rooky test on Marrakesh’s street circuit and was left positively impressed. However he confirmed he still wants to concentrate on the F1 world championship.

“Antonio wants to continue his career in F1 and for now there is no desire to take the direction of electric racing, either by him or by Ferrari,” concluded Minardi.

F1 | Gian Carlo Minardi “The silence of this F1 is exhausting”

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Two months have passed since the Abu Dhabi grand prix and we must wait for another thirty days before seeing the cars on the track in the first day of collective tests. Before that day there will be the presentation of the Renault (February 20th) which will the trail blazer for the path which Ferrari and Mercedes will follow when they lift the covers on Thursday February 22nd. Is the break too long? We asked Gian Carlo Minardi.

“The break is certainly not too long if we consider a season with 21 grands prix. They are all working hard to prepare every single detail also because we must not forget that the most important challenge is tied to the duration of the power-units which this year will be only three per driver. A ratio of 7 to 1,” emphasized Gian Carlo Minardi,

“The sad part is this silence from the teams which are issuing no press releases and have not organized conferences to keep the enthusiasts up to date. Unfortunately this fashion has been taking hold for some time and I find it absurd, just as it is like tripping yourself up by setting the presentations on the same day.

In all the other sporting realities the teams supply the information and the media world goes on,” continued the manager from Faenza,

“The teams are committed to trying to catch up to the Mercedes which is still the point of reference and Ferrari is called upon to make a leap of quality that will not be easy after five wins last year. To be followed is also the fight in the family between Renault, McLaren and Red Bull which all have the same engines and the unknown factor that is Toro Rosso-Honda. The Japanese come from three disappointing seasons and its problems are tied to the use of fuel and the lubricants.”

F1 | Minardi “I am curious about the Williams pair”

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With the announcement from the Williams team that Sergej Sirotkin will be next to Lance Stroll Robert Kubica’s fairy tale ended, even though the Pole will in any case make his return to F1 world championship as the third driver for the team from the Grove.

The announcement was not exempt from much criticism from members of the F1 world, but Gian Carlo Minardi is going against the flow

“Despite being very sad that we were not able to see a driver of Robert’s calibre as a lead actor in the world championship. I will be curious to see these two young men in action,” commented the manager from Faenza in an interview by www.minardi.it.

With an average age of barely 22 Lance Stroll and Sergej Sirotkin will give life to the youngest pair of drivers on the grid.

“My DNA has always that of working with the young and therefore this choice gives me much pleasure, even if a team as important as Williams could pay the choice in terms of the car’s development,” continued Minardi who was able to follow closely the first steps of the young men in the world of racing cars.

“These two young men grew up in our territory and within the ACI-Sport championships and this must be a source of pride. Unfortunately there are no Italians and this must be an incentive to keep working.

“It is useless hiding behind a glass wall: behind Lance and Sergej there are respectively a wealthy father (Lawrence Stroll) and a Russian bank. Exactly what our young men are lacking. It will only be up to them to show that they deserve the place they are they are occupying,” concluded the ex-constructor.

F1 | Hamilton backs Minardi. The champion is also against the asphalted run offs

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The asphalted run-offs of the new circuits are back on the agenda. This time the four times world champion Lewis Hamilton is the one pointing the finger at the new layouts of the circuits confirming what was already said in recent months by Gian Carlo Minardi. It was on the occasion of the USA grand prix and following Verstappen’s penalty that the manager from Faenza stated

“…The asphalted run-offs give the drivers too much peace of mind and this urges them to go over the limits allowed by the circuit and then they incur penalties which raise controversy that does no favours to the image of the world championship. As a matter of fact these incidents do not occur on the historic circuits such as Suzuka, Spa-Francorchamps or Monza where errors or acts of bravado come at a heavy price since they risk finding themselves stuck in the sand”

The 2017 World Champion from Britain is of the same idea.

The Federation has done an incredible job on safety, but the time has come to take a step back and return to the run-offs with grass or gravel. A driver should not be able to cut a corner so easily knowing that he has available a wide strip of asphalt… What I loved about the past was the risk of losing time – or the race- if you left the track. Today you can approach a corner even 5% faster since if you make a mistake you can come back onto the track in any case”

It was precisely the penalty given to Verstappen for his overtaking manoeuvre at Raikonnen’s expense at Austin that Minardi added another analysis.

“It would be vital having the same work group at Race Director Charlie Whiting’s side for the whole season. Objective decisions can only be avoided in this way. During last season,” added the ex constructor, “there were a number of similar incidents which had different evaluations between them and this does not do the sport any good. One solution to bring together the circuits and to avoid them spending more money and to ensure safety could be to impose heavy penalties in the case of cutting corners,” concluded the manager from Faenza.