F1 | Verstappen replaces Kvyat at Red Bull. Minardi "An impulsive decision"

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Red Bull noticed the both last mistakes made by Daniil Kvyat. Helmut Marko, in the post-GP, made us sense that something could have changed, and now we have the official announcement by Milton Keyne’s team.

Starting from the Spanish Grand Prix it will take place the cockpit reversion between the Russian driver and Max Verstappen who greets Toro Rosso and goes in Red Bull next to Daniel Ricciardo. Thus, they demoted Kvyat who is back into Toro Rosso where he had attracted attention at his debut gaining a quick promotion into a top-team, after just a season in Formula 1.

“I get the impression that at Toro Rosso they have acted too impulsively in rejecting a driver that did so well at his F1 debut with Toro Rosso and the following year in Red Bull (Ed. He ended the season ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the standings). Moreover, in these first four GP he also gained a podium”, Gian Carlo Mianrdi says speaking about the third place achieved by Kvyat in China. “On the other side, we are moving too quickly with Max Verstappen who would need to grow and mature without too many pressures”, the Manager from Faenza continues. “The risk is to ruin, in one shot, two young drivers.

F1 | Russian GP – SCORECARDS

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Nico Rosberg – 10 pole position and win. He concedes nothing to his competitors. His fastest lap in race signed at the penultimate lap proves the supremacy of Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton – 9 despite a reliability problem in Q3 that forced him to start from the tenth row, he recovered to the second place demonstrating to be a driver who never gives up.

Fernado Alonso – 9 his sixth place is worth as victory, given the current level of his McLaren-Honda. I put him among the first ones in series B. The sequence of times in race is remarkable.

Jenson Button 7.5 – taking the second car in the points, he completed the good Sunday of McLaren-Honda.

Sergio Perez 7.5 – excellent race for the Mexican driver at Force India. What a pity the puncture at the start of the race that forced him to make an unexpected pit stop.

Valtteri Bottas -7.5 he did not exploit the front row in the best way, and turned to be little aggressive. He got some substantial points to Williams.

Felipe Massa -7.5 he fought to stay next to his team mate. His fifth place is precious.

Kimi Raikkonen – 7 an important third place to Ferrari, but he made too many mistakes both in qualifying and in race.

Kevin Magnussen  -7 he gives to the returner Renault the first world points with his seventh place.

Romain Grosjean – 7 the trans-alpine at Haas is back in the top 10, after China, with an eight place.

F1 | Russian GP – Rosberg on pole, Ferrari second but downgraded

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Nico Rosberg is the poleman in this Russian GP, fourth event of the F1 World Championship. He doubles last year’s result, signing the 24th pole position in his carrer and the second one in the season. With an astonishing time of 1’35”417, after three consecutive successes, the leader of the World Championship managed to reduce last season’s pole position time by almost two seconds, leaving a gap of seven tenth of a second to Sebastian Vettel who ends his Q3 in the second position.

The Ferrari driver will be relegated to the seventh place for replacing the gear, and the first row will be consigned to Valtteri Bottas (Williams). Ferrari number 7,Kimi Raikkonen’s car (1’36”663) will start from the third place ahead the former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa (1’37”016) and Danilel Ricciardo’s Red Bull (1’37”025).

Everyone were waiting for a prompt response from Lewis Hamilton forced instead to raise the white flag at the beginning of Q3 for a new power-unit problem. The current World Championship will have to recover again from the tenth position at the shoulders of Sergio Perez, daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen.

Carlos Sainz, with the second one of Toro Rosso, failed to go beyond Q2 stopping in eleventh, ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren and Nico Hilkenberg’s Force India. Alonso gained the fourteenth place.

The GP starts at 14,00 on Sunday.

F1 | Russian Gp Preview – “Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton on watch list”

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After Shanghai, Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton will be kept under watch during the Russian GP, the fourth F1 World Championship event. The Circus will have been in Sochi for the third time in a circuit that up to now has gave us few emotions, and Mercedes has always dominated.

With his three seals in as many events, Nico Rosberg leads the general standings, and Hamilton must prove that his many successes gained over the years do not satisfy him. The family fight could make us entertained with Lewis in a chase for the third seal at Putin’s home and Nico looking for a poker in the championship.

Ferrari has to react and try to put some pressure into the world champions, even if they have a significant margin. In China, the Pracing Horse drivers have made some mistakes that affected the result, even if a gap of 37 seconds from Rosberg is an important sign. Kimi Raikkonen managed to react very well to some problems and started the season in a way definitely more aggressive and fast, even if he suffers in the comparison with Vettel who has to recover his place in overall standings against Daniel Ricciardo.

The SF16-H will have to guard himself from an improving Red Bull. Without the puncture in the tire that happened to Ricciardo fifteen days ago, the second place would have been more difficult for Sebastian. They have an excellent frame, even if their Power-Unit lacks something. Under this aspect, I am sure that their maneuvers for 2017 have already started, and hope to be clearer next days.

Outside temperatures will affect again strategy and tire choice. Pirelli has brought Medium, Soft and SuperSoft compounds.  This time there are different views within the teams, especially in terms of “yellows” and “red”. Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat rely firmly on the Softer compounds with 10 sets of SuperSoft (2 Soft and 1 Medium) each ones, against eight for Mercedes and 6 for Vettel and Raikkonen. Williams changes the road “abandoning” the Medium tires and focusing on the SuperSofts, with 9 sets per driver, and three sets of Soft, against four for Hamilton / Rosberg and six for Maranello.

With its 309 km, this will be a challenging grand prix especially for gearboxes and tractions. In addition, some engines enter their fourth race and their reliability could play an important role. From what we can read, they recovered the engine that Hamilton replaced in China.

F1 | Chinese GP – SCORECARDS

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The Chinese GP offered us the third winning in as many races of Nico Rosberg ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat. Let’s evaluate the protagonists, along with Gian Carlo Minardi.
Nico Rosberg – 10  all perfect. Pole position and victory with an excellent pace. He is in great shape and goes all out to try winning the World Championship. This one is his third victory in as many races.
Daniel Ricciardo – 8.5  he did an excellent qualifying, but was very unlucky during the race due to a puncture. He could have attempted to steal the second place of Vettel.
Daniil Kvyat – 8 great race at the end of which he took his Red Bull on the podium, the car has an excellent frame but the power-unit is still inadequate. I don’t agree with Vettel about the contact at the start.

Sebastian Vettel -7.5 a substantial second place, even if he made some little mistakes both in qualifying and in race with the contact to the detriment of Kimi Raikkonen. He has no reasons to get angry with the Russian driver.

Felipe Massa -7.5 he succeeds in remaining continuously ahead of Bottas. He took the Williams back to the top.

Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen -7.5 they confirmed their qualifying positions, and although in inverted positions, they have been in point zone for the all race.

Lewis Hamilton – 7.5 in spite of his poor conditions, he was maker of an amazing recover. What a pity the mistake early in the race that influenced the result.

Kimi Raikkonen – 7 like Sebastian, he made some little mistakes in qualifying, but he was good in recovering positions reaching the fifth place.
Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso – 7 they fought in the first part of the race. We can see a small opening for a duo McLaren-Honda growing.
Valtteri Bottas – 6 once again, he does not live up to expectations. His season started in a limp way.

F1 | Chinese GP – Preview

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The insertion of another compound has produced more suspense in strategies, and it could happen in Shanghai too. Pirelli will bring the Medium, Soft, and Super Soft tires, as we have seen up this moment. At Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have made the same choice (3 sets of Medium tire, 4 of Soft, and 6 of Super Soft), whereas at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have diversified the number of their sets of Medium and Soft. Four sets of “whites” and four of  “yellows” for Lewis and three sets of “whites” and five sets of “yellows” for Nico. Five sets of red Super Soft each one.

The strategy is different at William that has definitely preferred the Super Softs, with seven sets per driver. Only one set of “whites” for Massa, and two for Bottas.

At last, the teams reached an agreement: from the Chinese Grand Prix, the new qualifying format will be abbandoned. In Q3, we’ll fight again for pole position till the end. Meanwhile, Ferrari is facing its reliability problems. Let’s hope that this agreement does not lead to reduce the power or to give up the famous “little knob” because Vettel’s breakage had happened during the first lap after Saturday’s Q3.No news about the regulations 2017. Within the Working Group, there is no uniformity of views, and time is running out. Without a clear regulation, we will not have new entrances. Rather, there is a risk of some escape.

We await lower temperatures than those in Bahrain and the powers in action could change in the middle of the group. We have just to turn the TV on and watch the race, to understand if Fernando Alonso will be a piece of the action, as I think. In Bahrain, he was object of two different opinions: that of who was taking care of him and that of who decided to leave him at the pit.

Chinese GP timetable

Friday, April 15

Practice 1  4:00 – 5:30

Practice 2  8:00 – 9:30

Saturday, April 16

Practice 3  6:00 – 7:00

Qualifying  9:00

Sunday, April 17

Race  8:00

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

F1 | Gian Carlo Minardi "It would take more drivers like Hamilton"

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After the first events in Australia and Bahrain, Nico Rosberg guides the Driver standings with 50 points resulting from two clear wins. This chain of victories has continued for 5 consecutive weekends (three in 2015), bringing to sixteen his personal successes.

On pole position front, anyway, the star performer is definitely Lewis Hamilton who made a perfect lap also in Sakhir, beating off his competitors. He was less good in both starts in which his team mate got the better of him. In Bahrain, he even ended up in the middle of the group due to a contact suffered from Bottas, maker of a colorless race. Critics took the occasion for condemning his too dissolute lifestyle made of parties and worldliness.“A driver who achieves a pole position like that signed by Hamilton in Bahrain he can be everything but not out of focus. Also in race, despite his car was damaged by the contact with Bottas, he has been very good in recovering and achieved the podium, behind Raikkonen. His two mistakes at the start can be ok. When you have a perfect and superior car like Mercedes in this moment, you pay each little mistakes with the team mate’s victory”, Gian Carlo Minardi observes. The chronometer shows Mercedes faster than Ferrari, second power in the World Championship: 0,8 “ in race and 1′ in qualifying.

“We should have more Hamilton in this Formula 1. In his spare time he enjoys life and cultivates his hobbies, but when it is time of getting serious, everything disappear, and there are his performances to prove it. In a certain sense, it’s like 20 years ago”.

In this moment, Maranello has to face reliability that blocked Sebastian Vettel during the formation lap in Sakhir. This headache could affect the development of the SF16-H. “The famous “little knob” works very well on Mercedes, whereas it creates reliability problems for Ferrari due to the temperature emitted by the Power-Unit, even if it helped to decrease the gap” , the manager from Faenza concludes and invites us to watch the Chinese event that will take place in just over a week.

F1 | Qualifying, about-turn in the format

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A step back of the stables regarding the new qualifying format: starting from the Cinese Grand Prix, scheduled April 17, we’ll have no more eliminations every 90 seconds, that we experienced in Australia and Bahrain. Instead, we’ll still have three turns. We are back to the format of 2015.

Teams have joined to ask unanimously Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt to abandon the new format that had collected a lot of criticism by fans, teams and drivers since its debut. The new technical rules remain a mistery.

“It’s time for F1 to sit around a table and start working with an entrepreneur’s attitude and make medium and long-term programs instead of chatting fruitlessly. April is also started and we haven’t still any signal about the new technical regulation for 2017. Unfortunately, there is a strange trend of pushing back any decisions with just the aim to not change anything”, observes Gian Carlo Minardi who last days has focused the attention on free practices opened to the rookies.

Gian Carlo Minardi "F1 must value young drivers"

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The weekend in Bahrain delivered the first spark to McLaren-Honda, thanks to the rookie Vandoorne called back from Japan at the last minute to substitute the injured Fernando Alonso. It was a difficult task for the Belgian driver 24 years old catapulted into a car that he had never tested because of his engagement in Super Formula. His debut was important, and he didn’t do a poor figure among World Champions.

It was a good weekend also for another young driver debuting in the World Championship: Pascal Wehrlein that in qualifying brought the little Manor in sixteenth, and ended his race ahead of two Sauber and Force India.

A result that should make us meditate. “It’s true, fortune has a great role in life, beyond the talent, but the fact that we don’t create specific occasions to test these young, excluding sporadic episodes linked to the accident of a regular driver, is ungenerous toward them. With tests blocked, the free practice on Friday would be an excellent occasion for young drivers. This way, we can also add value to the work of Federations”, says Gian Carlo Minardi consulted by www.minardi.it.“Only one in a thousand succeeds, but we ought give him the chance to test himself. Don’t forget that Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel, just to name two, became what they are thanks to thousands of free practices on Friday morning dedicated to rookies where they proved to keep up with the job”, remembers the manager from Faenza who in his long career in the World Championship has promoted a lot of young drivers.

“Vandoorne was very fast and didn’t any mistakes. He caused some problems for Jenson Button, a World Champion, bringing the first point to McLaren. Without Alonso’s injury, he wouldn’t had this chance. It would have been a great pity. Who knows how many “Vandoorne” are there, just waiting their chance. Wehrlein’s weekend is also noteworthy, with a great past in DTM, but heavily debated. In spite of some complications of his Manor, he defended himself with a good qualifying and an excellent race”.

“Formula 1 must give a chance to the young. Today, instead, everything is blocked. This way isn’t the right one”, Gian Carlo Minardi concludes.

F1 | Haas kept targeted by Red Bull and Williams. Minardi “A dangerous game"

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Haas is surely the wonder team of this seasonal start. In the first two Grand Prixs, the Us group managed to gather 18 points thanks to Romain Grosjena and his fifth and sixth place in Bahrain and in Australian at the opening race. A booty that put the stable in the fifth place, behind Red Bull and just at two lengths from Williams. Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen have the same points. A prize list that could have been greater without the double zero of Guttierez who slowed down due to some troubles in Sakhir and by a contact suffered from Fernando Alonso in Melbourne.

As Gian Carlo Minardi had anticipated in his post-race clip “We are entering a dangerous arena for F1. They are rewriting the “Constructors” meaning“, Christian Horner and Pat Symonds feel themselves threatened and condemn this new kind of F1.“In Sakhir they raced fast and their strategy worked very well. The VF-16 is fast and solid. Last year model of Ferrari looks still very competitive” the Red Bull team principal lampoons them. “If we do the same of Haas, F1 will be less and less prerogative of constructors and frame makers. Undoubtely, they have done very well and legally acted. Anyway, is this the right way? I am not sure”, the technical director of williams says.

An opinion shared with the manager from Faenza who analyzes what happened last Sunday, after the grand prix where Grosjean ended ahead of Verstappen and his Toro Rosso, Kviat and his Red Bull and the two Williams. “If our future is having three or four constructors/frame makers, the World Championship should be opened only to them. I don’t find fair to split the royalties cake also with the assemblers. In this moment, Haas team is not a constructor because has too many changeable pieces”.Nothing new, anyway, since we had this scenario already in 2005. “At first, the stable of Toro Rosso was a Red Bull clone. Then Williams, quoted at the stock exchange, made actual the definition of constructor and that of intellectual property. A step back was made, and, with some difficulties, they became again independent“.

“Ferrari, anyway, has been very good at playing with the gaps in regulations and has made very valuable choices, that on paper, could open new scenarios with Sauber and Force India destined to disappear because they are no longer marketable. With the assemblers’ entrance, the value of a team as a constructor deteriorates. Instead, Mercedes could strenghten its cooperation with Manor, whereas Red Bull will have to find a constructor.” Minardi continues confirming what anticipated us last months, “They have always declared they are in F1 to win. So, I am quite sure that they are now looking around”.

 

F1 | GP Bahrain – SCORECARDS

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Nico Rosberg – 9. Second seasonal winning and perfect score. Once again, he did better than his team-mate at the start and handled the race very well. Surely, he was helped by an impeccable Mercedes that outperforms the first of its chasers with a gap of 0,8”.

Kimi Raikkonen – 8 like in the last season he made a great race, without any mistakes, bringing Ferrari to the second place. In qualifying, anyway, he can’t get Vettel concerned.

Stoffel Vandoorne – 8 an amazing debut for the substitute for Fernando Alonso called back in Japan at the last minute. He didn’t any mistake. Perhaps, we should give more chances to these young drivers. I continue to be a supporter to free practice open to rookies on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton – 7,5 he has frustrated a pole position for the second consecutive time because of a faulty start. At the first bend, he was in the middle of the group where Bottas did the rest. Anyway, in spite of a defective strategy, he gained the third position.

Max Verstappen -7,5 once again he delighted us with excellent overtakings, particularly to the detriment of Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat bringing his Toro Rosso in sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo – 7,5 he can’t do more with this engine, but he reached the third place in the Drivers World Championship, dragging his Red Bull behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

Pascal Wehrlein – 7, he is building his Formula 1 future very well. He was great in qualifying (P16 with the little Manor) and didn’t save any energy during the race, ending ahead of Sauber and Force India.

Romain Grosjean -7 an excellent seasonal start for the French driver that brings his Haas in fifth, behind the two Mercedes, a Ferrari, and a Red Bull. Surely, next days, the performance of the American team will make us discuss. They are changing the definition of “Constructors” because their car is a Ferrari clone.

Carlos Sainz -6,5 the start was good, but once again he was very unlucky also because of Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez – 4 definitely a bad day for the Williams and Force India standard-bearers. They did their best to ruin their race and that of their team-mates.

The Race Direction – 4 we are talking so much about security, but then when cars lose some pieces on the track they aren’t even called to pits.

 

F1 | Gp Bahrain – Preview

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We can expect a strategic Grand Prix with tires in a leading role. Pirelli will take the Medium, Soft, and Super Soft tires. Teams will have a variegated assortment. Someone has already shown us his possible strategy. In fact, Mercedes will take just a set of Medium tires per driver, and six sets of Soft and Super Soft ones, proving their intention not to use the Medium tires. Instead, at Ferrari, Raikkonen and Vettel will have four sets of Soft (that they will use in qualifying and in the first part of the race) and six sets of Super Soft. Last year, Soft tires had a leading role in this GP, with a two stops strategy. They used Medium tires because so required by the rules.

We are approaching a “real” circuit after the city circuit in Melbourne. Heat will have a key role, even if the race will be at the end of the day, with less torrid temperatures. The brakes will be stressed due to the long straights. It will be interesting to see, beyond the chase of Mercedes, the role of Haas and Toro Rosso that last year achieved the top ten.Today, they can count on a greater reliability and on a Ferrari engine.

Twelve months ago, Sebastian Vettel gave us the first raw, few tenths of seconds from the poleman Hamilton, whereas Raikkonen had his best race, ending in second.

There are a lot of cues to expect an amazing race weekend, starting from Friday with the two rounds of free practice scheduled at 13.00 and 17.00 (Italian time), and Saturday at 14.00 in view of qualifying (17.00). After a lot of  criticisms, in Bahrain we’ll have again qualifying with eliminations every 90 seconds.

Friday 1 April

Free practice 1       13:00-14:30

Free practice 2      17:00-18,30

Saturday  2 April

Free practice        14:00-15:00

Qualifying             17:00

Sunday 3 April

Race 17:00  ̶  57 laps

Save the date: Formula 1 back in Imola

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Easter is coming, and taking the occasion to send their best Wishes, Gian Carlo Minardi and the whole Minardi Team have arranged a unique surprise.

During the “Historic Minardi Day” June 25, 2016 Formula 1 will be back at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit of Imola. Alongside the single-seaters having characterized the Team from Faenza for 21 years in the Formula 1 World Championship, cars from F1, Formula 2, and Formula 3 that wrote the most important pages of the circuit in 35 years, will hurtle again along the famous chicanes at “Acque Minerali”, Rivazza” “Tosa” “Tamburello” “Villeneuve”. A unique event to see again on the track the colors of the Minardi Team and some “unique pieces” of the Circus.

“I am really glad to announce the birth of this first Historic Minardi Day, and to bring back Formula 1 in Imola. We will have the occasion to see again on track some single-seaters coming from F1, F2 and F3 that struggled along the track named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari. These ten years out from the Circus have passed quickly, but the fondness of collectors and enthusiasts and their interest in the Minardi Team are really strong and warm. The Historic Minardi Day will be the occasion to meet up again on the track”, an enthusiastic Gian Carlo Minardi explains.