F.1 – Road to Montreal

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Formula 1 greets Europe and flies overseas to Canada, to the land of Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal. A special Grand Prix, which is run on a half-road half-permanent circuit, where pitfalls abound. An example: the weather conditions, with wind and temperatures ready to change quickly, putting then a strain on strategies and tyres. The track has low grip and Pirelli will bring Soft and SuperSoft tyres. In addition, the safety car is almost constantly present, as it made its entrance on track in 82% of cases.

Then, there are other significant variables. The layout requires a low downforce, with engines forced to have the throttle valve open to the maximum for 60% of the time, thanks to the second longest straight of the world championship, in which engines touch the 350 km/h, before a sudden braking, which provides strain on the entire brake system, together with five other hard brakings, located along the 4361 meters. About engines: after signing the new record by completing 6 consecutive GP with the same PU, Mercedes is preparing to bring on track a new unit, with the addition of 50 hp.

Let’s have a look also to gears and consumption. Traditionally, Montreal is one of the tracks with the highest rate of consumption. Compared to last year, also in this area, it has taken a big step forward, but it remains a good test circuit.

Hence, the unknown elements are not lacking. It will be worth to see this Grand Prix, considering what happened in Monaco. Mercedes has already made mistake, paying for the wrong strategy, even if the race in Montecarlo went “good”, in any case.

Once again behind the scenes meetings will animate the circus, as happened fifteen days ago. Carlos Ghosn and Berni Ecclestone met certainly do not discuss the Cannes Film Festival or the Casino, but certainly to talk about a future that looks so rosy, since it involves two teams such as Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Meetings will be about how to remedy decisions that might be striking.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F.1 – Jean Todt reinforces the FIA

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With a more technologically advanced F1, the FIA tries to take remedial actions and President Jean Todt strengthens his working group alongside the experts Charlie Whiting, Jo Bauer and also the aerodynamic expert Marcin Budkowski, with past experiences in Maranello and Woking.

Therefore, the International Federation wants to give greater authority to the inspections, trying to counter the wiles of the engineers in action within the team. “I find it a very appropriate move. Electronics and mechanics are really advanced and within the FIA have to work engineers and technicians who know very well the F1 environment and all latest technologies. In this way, it’s possible to write and establish clear sporting rules, giving the stability that is lacking today“, Gian Carlo Minardi says on www.minardi.it. “I have always believed, and I repeat for some time, that it is up to the FIA to establish the rules of the future and not to a Strategy Group composed of the same team. This will avoid furthering their own cause. Therefore, these technicians must undertake not to return to cooperate with the teams involved in the World Championship“, the manager from Faenza, busy at Monza circuit for the ACI Racing Weekend, continues. “We are in a very delicate moment for the Circus, where the uncertainty rules the roost, even blocking the entrance of new constructors“, Minardi concludes.

F.1 – Monaco GP: DRIVERS’ SCORECARDS

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Montecarlo Grand Prix enlivened in the closing stages, thanks to Grosjean-Verstappen’s contact, after a good recovery of the Dutch driver, despite the error in the pit stop, and thanks to the reckless, inappropriate strategy of Mercedes, which called the leader of the race at the pit with the safety-car, in my opinion for an excessive pride, bringing then the success to Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton – 10 His Qualifying lap was spectacular and his race flawless, managed at his best all race, from the beginning till the end. Too bad for the mistake of the pit stop. On his return on track, he tried several times to overcome Vettel, who achieved a second position.

Sebastian Vettel – 8 He optimized the Ferrari, which still gives something to competitors. The third placement in Qualifying was excellent and it was the first one after Mercedes to get under the wall of 1’16”. He made no mistake during the race, managing to do well at the restart after the safety car, standing Hamilton’s ground and trying to attack him with his SuperSoft tyres.

Nico Rosberg – 8 He was behind his team mate for the whole weekend, but helped by the mistake in the final laps. With the victory, he is just 10 points away from the teammate, making the next GP more electrifying. On the final, he managed to outdistance Vettel with more than 4 sec, constantly racing on 1’18″599 and 1’18″700.

Jenson Button – 8 Despite McLaren-Honda still in late, he achieved the first points in the World Championship. Throughout the race, he defended himself with pretty good time results, in spite of a delay in car development.

Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat – 7.5 Red Bull has shown significant progresses in this weekend. Ferrari will have to be careful. Good work by Daniel and good sportsmanship to the fellow who finished fourth. Kvyat was criticized excessive.

Sergio Perez – 7 He struggled with determination throughout the weekend bringing the Force India in seventh place. He did as best as he could.

Carlos Sainz jr. – 7 Hi race was amazing, after an excellent Qualifying performance but with excessive zeal in stewards’ application of the regulations. He started from the pits with a very risky strategy and recovered up to tenth place.

Unsatisfactory all the others, especially Raikkonen, who lost once again the comparison with Vettel. Too many mistakes and he was unremarkable in both practice and race sessions.

Talking about the team, in addition to the disastrous race management of Mercedes (4), things went certainly not very well also at Williams, which will be forced to defend itself against a Red Bull in growth, instead of fighting for the second place in the championship. A 6 of encouragement to Sauber, Force India, Lotus and Toro Rosso.

F.1 – Gp Monaco: Hamilton in pole position before Rosberg and Vettel

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Lewis Hamilton is the King of Montecarlo of last Saturday. With an impressive 1’15″098, he signed his first pole position in Monaco, ahead of Nico Rosberg, who stopped at 342 thousandths from the teammate, after winning the last two rounds. In third position there is still Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel that paid 7 dec over the best Mercedes, stopping the clock at 1’15″849 ahead of the two Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.

Sixth place for Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari (1’16″427) ahead of Force India of the Mexican driver Sergio Perez, the two Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen and Pastor Maldonado with its Lotus, who placed his car between the cars from Faenza.

“Qualifications as scheduled with a front row occupied by Mercedes. I would expect to see Nico Rosberg in front, but we have to congratulate Hamilton, who with a fantastic lap threatened to fall under the wall of 1’15”. Well done for Red Bull for moving forward and well done also for Vettel, who defended himself finishing third. Too many mistakes this morning and in the afternoon for Raikkonen. A praise to Toro Rosso who placed both its drivers in the Top 10. Although Raikkonen experienced for the first time with this circuit, he stood out quickly. Unlike Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez managed to optimize very well his Force India”, Gian Carlo Minardi analyses. “I thought I’ve seen some difficulties with SuperSoft tyres. Now let’s see what happens tomorrow during the race“.

F.1 – Road to Montecarlo

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Montecarlo is Montecarlo. Glamour, parties, atmosphere, yachts. It’s obviously an incredible and unique weekend, starting from the planning, with the first two free practice sessions from Thursday, coming back on track on Saturday and Sunday for the Gran Gala of the Grand Prix. Above all, the possibility to see the open wheels drive fast just closer to their fans. A truly unique event.

It will be a Gp focused on Mercedes, with an internal battle. In the last two years, Nico Rosberg has managed to be the first and, after the Spanish success, he will try to go on the positive way of successes, taking advantage of his feeling with the circuit of Monaco. Certainly, he cannot be much more outdistanced by Lewis Hamilton.

All the others remain an unknown, being far away for the incredible German power and I don’t expect miracles. Incidents can be always really close and compounds could help. Pirelli will bring special Supersoft, very performing, and Soft, which could favour those who have less grip and traction, such as Ferrari.

I hope that this long weekend, which will start today with a PR conference, will be the occasion to make things clearer on what the Strategy Group has suggested. In my opinion, these proposals don’t represent the right way, because Formula 1 problems about no spectacle and the economic and technical crisis are undertaken. All these proposals are focused on 2017, but firstly there’s need to overcome the 2016. There are too many unknown elements about Circus’ future and they’re unacceptable for all those teams ready to enter.

From the one side, we have Audi AD who declares: “F1 has to solve its problems by itself”, that’s to say: first of all, rules have to be clear and then we can enter. From the other side, there’s Renault, which is creating a lot of problems to two small regular teams, one of which is twice Wold Champion. The scene is certainly not the most solid ones. This is why these proposals seem to me not suitable to the actual situation. In the last years, there have been made choices in favour of safety. Now, there are proposals for 1000 hp engines and 4-5” more performing cars, including again supplies, going back to chronometric results of 6-7 years ago. It denies everything done so far. Moreover, we’ve a GP2, which in Spain has been faster than the last row of F1. This GP2 counts on 200 hp less and on budgets that are far away from those of Circus. Numbers that should make us think about.

For this reason, I hope there’ll be FIA and FOA interventions, in order to find serious and useful solutions to reach and pass 2016 with no problems, giving stability to the atmosphere.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F.1 – Strategy Group: too many words, few facts

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So many words and zero facts. I have to sum up with these words the decisions taken by the Strategy Group, which met into the Biggin Hill aeroport in London, whose aim should be to he show and the format of the Formula 1. We are talking about a group of people working as part of the team, whose daily bread is the F1. This is why I am perplexed when I read these proposals. Rules that may be adopted in 2016 and 2017 seasons. Now the ball passes to the World Motor Sport Council.

SUPPLIES: inexplicably returned. After being abolished because considered unsafe and too expensive, the Strategy Group has rightly thought to propose them again, even though the open wheels have become more complex – not to say dangerous – with the entry in 2014 of complicated and expensive power-unit that are putting in great difficulty different teams. What would happen in case of problems or errors with the pipe union? Formula 1 is in economic crisis. If we exclude the first five teams, all the others are already without oxygen and, now, we force them to take on additional costs to buy back the equipment and manage their transport?

FREE TYRES: Each team would be free to choose the two compounds to be used in each Grand Prix. If I were the supplier, I would not ever accept. The best way to quickly improve the performance on the tour is to act on the tire choice. Therefore, small teams may opt for soft compounds also on a very selective track with the intent to stand out. Do not forget what we experienced at Indianapolis in 2005 …

 CLIENTS CARS: how many times has already turned up this proposal in recent years? It’s a long time I think that it is not the right solution to keep costs down. Cars built to win a World Championship have construction strategies and operating costs well above the car of second choice. I personally studied ithis way in 1996: Flavio Briatore joined the the Minardi Team, who was also CEO of Team Benetton. Together we tried to investigate synergies to reduce costs. After a careful study, two philosophy emerged and there were so different that we had to abandon the project. Everyone continued to produce and project separately. Furthermore, it should depreciate to the intellectual property of the team that would lose the title of “Constructor” with big repercussions in the economic value of the team itself.

So once again there were no new solutions that could portend a substantial changes, to reduce real costs. They have been rejected all cases of cost cuts, related to abolition of the wind tunnels or revise the system of payments between customer teams and engineers etc. Today we have engines whose costs account for one third of the entire budget. Unacceptable. We need to focus on simpler aerodynamics, having fewer staff in the company and also during the pit stop. It’s time that I feel ridiculous having to employ over 20 mechanics to change four tyres, destined to rise with supply. Staff which also covers the sponsors sings just in a moment when the car may have the best visibility. DRS? Technology that has a cost and that is useless, even on production cars.

Do we want to change? Why not try to do two shorter rounds on Sunday, totalling always 300 km, instead of entering the supplies, as well as increasing costs, complicated strategies and reading the race. Let’s think to make cars easier (now a front wing cost more than 100,000 €) and fast with tyres of 17″. We must make to remain fans excited with amazing and less complicated contests. Today races are made on tyre and fuel strategies. We also add the unknown supplies and will not solve anything. My idea is to get the public closer, now too far. Fans are forced to watch their heroes behind a network, at best, or a television. There’s a nasty habit of get closed inside the hospitality.

It’s time to create a group that is not directly involved in the team, but promoted by the FIA and FOA. Ecclestone and Todt have to monitor on proposals. There’s need for a Strategy Group which is absolutely detached from the teams, but knows very well F1 environment. Otherwise everyone pulls water to his mill and these proposals which are not going anywhere come out.

F.1 – Spanish GP: DRIVERS' SCORECARD

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Ferrari fans were very disappointed, because they expected something new and more decisive for the Spanish Grand Prix that, unfortunately, did not take place, as demonstrated by the 45″ of lead between Sebastian Vettel and the winner Nico Rosberg.

Unfortunately, they represent a step back of Mercedes’ run up. Podiums are good but because they help to keep high the moral in a difficult moment. Today, luckily, we miss those teams (i.e. McLaren and Red Bull) who only 12 months ago were constantly in top positions. The Team Principal Mr.Arrivabene himself, after the race, was very severe, stating that this gap is not fine at all. It will certainly be a very long way since we do not know the real limits of Germans. They ended the fifth Grand Prix of the season with the same power-unit, sign of reliability and strength against competitors which ask the fifth unit for car/year.

Behind Ferrari, there was Williams, that in the first four races made few mistakes. It will certainly be a tough nut for the second place in Constructors championship. This standings is much clearer over the past year in quality and performance. In Qualifying we saw a spectacular Red Bull that, unfortunately, is not able to repeat itself in race management, giving way to Red Bull’s rich cousins. The cause is also to be searched in the straights that PU Renault give to competitors. Let’s arrive to the votes.

Nico Rosberg – 10 He managed the whole weekend in an exemplary manner, becoming once again the “Nico” that last year contrasted Lewis. We hope that the internal struggle for the title will reopen, since all the others are light years away

Lewis Hamilton – 8 I saw him nervous. He suffered unjustly for the perfect weekend of his teammate. A champion like him should be able to manage these realities because Rosberg is not a Number 2. Up to now, he has been able to win three races perfect and with no problems

Sebastian Vettel – 8 because he did not make any mistakes in Qualifying and during the race

Valtteri Bottas – 8 Excellent race; he managed to keep up with Ferrari’s compatriot, putting his Williams between the two Reds

Kimi Raikkonen – 7 A vote of encouragement, because in the whole weekend has been behind his teammate. To keep Ferrari in second position in the world championship, he have to win the competition on Williams.

Felipe Massa – 6.5 a we do not live up to the first part of the championship. In Barcelona he has definitely lost the confrontation with teammate. He brought home a 6th place and important points.

Daniel Ricciardo – 7.5 still an appointment full of problems. He knew, however, how to achieve a good seventh place, even with a lap down

Romain Grosjean – 7.5 despite a car with several problems, he tried to his best to bring Lotus the points for the World Championship

Daniil Kvyat – 6 Some mistakes and a bad start, but the car is difficult to drive. He lost also the comparison with Sainz Jr. Anyway, he deserves more attention and less critics. I find foolish the comparison with Vettel.

From Campos to Sainz Jr.: the Faenza-Spain's axis

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Speaking about the Spanish Grand Prix, we can not forget Faenza-Spain’s axis, a twinning grown stronger and stronger over the years, through every Spanish driver, without only Pedro De La Rosa. The Minardi team led the way in 1987 hiring Adrian Campos. Today the baton has passed to Scuderia Toro Rosso, which can rely in its ranks on Carlos Sainz Jr., paired with the Dutchman Verstappen.

After its debut at the wheel of the M187, with its fourteenth placement as the best result exactly in Spain, Adrian Campos stopped in Faenza also the following season, along with Luis Perez Sala, before leaving the wheel of the M188 to Pierluigi Martini. For the team managed by Gian Carlo Minardi these were the first years in Formula 1 World Championship with its debut in 1985, but already in Detroit the first championship point was celebrated, thank to the sixth positiona of the manger from Romagna.

We arrive to the late 90’s and early 2000 with Marc Gené and Fernando Alonso. Before moving into Williams’ ranks ans then  Ferrari as test driver, Gené defends the colors of the Minardi team in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, together with Luca Badoer and Gaston Mazzacane, winning points in the European Grand Prix at the wheel of the M01 with Ford engine, before passing the baton to his compatriot and future bi-world champion Fernando Alonso. The last Minardi’s Spanish driver was Antonio Garcia, who in 2002 fallen was at the wheel of Mark Webber’s PS02 for a test-drive, before moving successfully in competitions. In his record of achievements, it appeared in fact the ninth place in the WTCC ’05, along with 2008-2009-2011 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the wheel of Aston Martin and Corvette and 2009-2015 successes in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Considering the TR, 2009 was the year of Jaime Alguersuari and this year of son Carlos Sainz Jr. “They were really many Spanish drivers and I am pleased that since the Minardi Team signed his F1 debut in 1985, all drivers, except one, are passed to Faenza. For Minardi Team, along with Monza and Imola, the Spanish GP was the house race“, Gian Carlo Minardi says. “I have wonderful memories of both Spanish fans and drivers, an I am still in good terms with them. The last Spanish arrived in Faenza is Sainz Jr; he has all the skills to do well. I hope he’ll have better luck than his proceeded Alguersuari, victim of RB’s mistakes. In 2006, I attended his debut in Formula, at Imola: pole, victory and fastest lap in both races. I thought about a future in F1, that there has been, bout too short“, the manager from Faenza concludes. He will in Barcelona to follow also Luca Ghiotto and Raffaele Marciello, busy in GP3 and GP2 as bearers of ACI Team Italia.

F.1 – Road to Barcelona

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The Spanish Grand Prix is traditionally an important sign for season’s performances. In these three weeks of apparent silence all big teams have worked to bring to Barcelona the developments they’ve studied, both on chassis and power-unit.

Rumors speak about an improvement of 3/4 tenths for Ferrari, but only the circuit will give us the final report. Mercedes has still frozen the engines, while Ferrari and Williams have worked on all fronts. Unfortunately, we read too little of Lotus, Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso. This signal is not positive.

Therefore, Formula 1 prepares his arrival in the old country, with Hard and Medium compounds. A good test for tyres, on an abrasive track characterized by lateral forces that don’t stress just stress just tyres. We’ll see if Mercedes will be able – as I believe – to maintain its leadership and if Maranello confirms his second place at Williams’ expenses.

Behind the top four driver, there’s battle for the fifth position. Excluding Manor – for obvious reasons – they are all very close. It will be interesting to follow their battles. As I mentioned in recent weeks, the days following Barcelona GP will be crucial, with several boards of directors at Renault-BMW-Audi, which could reorganize the F.1. We also have Mr. Red Bull eager to join Bernie Ecclestone’s CVC. It could trigger a vortex.

With regard to Spain, I have to talk about the Spanish drivers and the Spain-Faenza’s axis. With the exception of Pedro De La Rosa, every Spanish F.1 driver started from Faenza, and many of them from the Minardi team. We start in ’87 -’88 with Adrian Campo and Sala in the ’88 -’89 season, to get to Marc Gene in 1999-2000, Fernando Alonso in 2000-2001 and Antonio Garcia who tried with us in 2002. Moving to Toro Rosso in 2009, Alguersuari arrived, till today with Sainz Jr. For Minardi Team, along with Monza and Imola, the Spanish GP was a little ‘house’ race. I do have a very good relationship with all the drivers who still meet gladly.

With Barcelona also the preliminary series are getting going. GP2 will reach its second appointment, while the spotlights will switch on GP3. The ACI Team Italia with Luca Ghiotto and Raffaele Marciello will start; they are both Trident bearer respectively in GP3 and GP2. I’ll be personally in Barcelona to closely observe our young drivers and see what device put to use in order to enhance their growth. It’s a very important step of the work planned by Aci-Sport.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Formula 1 of tomorrow

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The current grid of Formula 1 Grand Prix is composed of: four engine suppliers (Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Honda), three constructors (Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren) and seven private teams (Williams, Force India, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus, Manor).

But the scene may change soon. Here’s how and why.

Renault: The days after the Spanish Grand Prix, scheduled for the weekend of May 10th, an Extraordinary Board of Directors will be organized directly by the Chairman and CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, who will speak about the situation Renault in F1. At this point, three different ways can be opened: leave the Circus, get in first buying a team or raise technically a Power-Unit that is currently not up to competitors.

Audi: the group is facing a historic transition. Ferdinand Piech, Chairman and major shareholder of the group, resigned because of internal conflicts. This means that there may be internal struggles that call Piech into discussion. Mr. Ferdinand was not against Bernie Ecclestone, as rumours said in these months, but the current F1 didn’t suit him. What will be the new strategies? Will Audi be interested in buying Red Bull Racing?

BMW: in mid-May, the German company will have a new CEO in the person of Mr. Kruger a technician with great experience in motorsport. This is a signal to raise again the brand in a world like that of F1, although it is much talked and denigrated, it has great attraction, increasing the brand.

Formula 1 in the coming weeks could change things both technically and politically. In this period Circus seems lethargic. But will be really this way? Do Bernie Ecclestone and Dietrich Mateschitz know something more? For several months it’s talking about a future Mr. Red Bull highly interested in buying CVC’s stocks. If that were so, he would be forced to leave the two teams (RBR and TR). Is it a coincidence that these rumours come out right now? Mateschitz has always said that F1 is a business fro him, being a marketing man. A very interesting scenario. A new breath of fresh air. We have a practical example. After purchasing the old Zeltweg circuit, he has been able to restructure and relaunch it. Last year, Red Bull Ring has experienced one of the most beautiful grand prix of the season, with lawns and bustling terraces and many initiatives. This year could be even better.

Well, maybe we’re in front of a big change.

F.1 – Minardi: “Simplest cars and battles and not 1000 hp”

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From the analysis of the first four races of the season, a huge mix of the forces on track emerged, compared to only twelve months ago: + 55 points at Ferrari – from fourth to second force of the World Championship, +19 Sauber and +12 Lotus balanced out the negative signs at McLaren (-43 points), Red Bull (-34) and Force India (-43), due to the technical crisis of two manufacturers Renault and Honda, but not only as in case of team of Vijay Mallya.

Despite the confirmation of the line-up and power-unit supplier (Mercedes) they get to eighth place, with only eleven points. The fault lies in the economic crisis, which is touching most of the grid. “Today, only five teams can save themselves financially and this can not and should not go unnoticed. It’s definitely useless and ridiculous to talk about engines with 1,000 hp or reintroduce supplies of gasoline, which can only complicate the studying of races as well as increasing costs again. To get out of this crisis, there’s need of well-defined programs, intervening on technical and sporting regulations”, Gian Carlo Minardi analyses at the microphones of www.minardi.it.

“I agree, although I do not share, the use of these complicated and expensive power-units in Formula 1, because I think the most correct scene is the WEC World Endurance Championship. Take a step back, towards the aspirated engines, in my opinion is complicated, because from 2020 the future of  mass-production cars will be facing the hybrid, the energy recovery and less polluting turbo engines. The high costs that the private teams have to consider do not work. A PU absorbs almost one/third of the entire budget for the majority of the teams. A truly unsustainable system, that today we are touching with hand“, the manager from Faenza continues. He suggests introducing cars with an easier aerodynamics that highlights the quality of the driver, without too much help.

“The DRS is useless, because it is a technology that will never find a place in mass-production cars. Would we like to about how wings have become complicated and burdensome? More than 100,000 € for a single front wing is not an enormous cost? It would be better to have simpler aerodynamics that allow overtakings on track, and not only through box’ strategies or the mandatory use of two compounds. If we now reintroduce also the supply element, we are really okay … Today we are looking at cars that “suffer” getting too close to those that are in front. It is not normal“.

It’s time to take remedial actions with serious and fast solutions. You have to attract fans with races full of overtakings and battles without any new-fangled technologies. We must find new trademarks. Today, everyone regret the duels of Villeneuve-Arnoux or, going further in time, to duel between Schumacher and Hakkinen at Spa-Francorchamps. F.1 must once again become the racing car of dreams, perhaps through wider tyres, aerodynamics that allows exploiting the wake, and why not, even using less mechanics during the pit-stop. One person for tyre could create more suspense.

Instead of just hearing about strategies and tires, it would be better to tell the duels with more suspense? “We have to take remedial actions. Do not forget that the problems at Renault are touching two teams that are financially solid, such as Red Bull and Toro Rosso. I hate to think how the future will be for those teams that already are out of breath ..” And we left behind only four of the nineteen appointments … An atmosphere almost like that of Alfred Hitchcock!

F.1 – Minardi: “Will Bernie manage to change course to this F.1?”

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I’ve read Pino Allievi’s interview to Bernie Ecclestone on the Gazzetta dello Sport. I’ve already talked about that issues several times, since this Formula 1 makes one think and worry. I agree with Bernie. It’s time to review the technical regulations and come back to “simpler” and cheaper engines, leaving the manufacturers participating in the WEC Championship carry the commitment to built of new generation cars. Is not sustainable a system in which the cost of a Power-Unit represents 1/3 or 1/4 of the entire budget of a team. But that’s not all. To manage and enter these Power Units on the car, there is a considerable increase in costs on the remaining items.

If there’s no remedy in the short term, the risk is throwback to the seventies, when there was only one engine – Ferrari – against all motorized Cosworth. Today, the risk is to have only one challenge: Ferrari vs Mercedes.

The economic difficulties of some teams, the skyrocketing costs and the need to revise the rules are not the only clouds on the horizon. After what happened in Shanghai at Renault, reliable sources anticipate us that before the Spanish Grand Prix an Extraordinary Board of Directors will be held directly by the Chairman and CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, being about the situation Renault in Formula 1. It is not certainly a good sign. A Board of Directors finalized may open in two scenarios: direct engagement with its own team (we have already talked about), or other more drastic “situations”. It’s true that there are agreements until 2016 with Red Bull and Toro Rosso, but it would not be the first time that a manufacturer takes bad roads for our sport, giving the perfect excuse to teams (the few solid and well-funded ones!) that get an engine to withdraw without incurring contractual penalties. A similar scenario would be definitely traumatic. What kind of starting grid would remain? I will not even think about it!

In Bahrain, a hot weekend starts under many points of view. Team Principals have to present new solutions and Mr. E has to evaluate new entries in the Circus on the engines front. There are companies that stand there watching – someone having already ready engines – stopped only by the lack of long-term strategies. One above all is BMW, which just in mid-May will have a new AD, Mr. Kruger, a man with professional experience in Motorsport. It’s time to use all the needed energies, in order to safeguard what for me, and not only, it is still the most amazing sports show in the world.

F.1 – Road to Bahrain

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We’re quickly getting closer to Bahrain, the fourth appointment of this World Championship. A fifth part of the season is now gone. As we know, it will be a night race and this could penalize Ferrari, removing a part of the advantage of using the Soft and Medium tyres, even if track temperatures will remain hot (obviously as hot as Sepang levels). We get to the circuit that signed Ferrari’s reorganization in 2014. Last year, at the end of a race, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen used to close in ninth/tenth position. This year, we arrive with a very different spirit.

Ferrari presents itself as the second force of the World Championship, first among the terrestrials. A result that makes us think, especially after a 2014 full of tension. The stopwatch, real unique neutral arbiter, however, is unforgiving towards all. The German team has once again showed its supremacy in China, especially in fast laps, imposing itself from beginning to end. Lewis Hamilton has played not only with opponents, but also creating a few battles with the teammate, as we heard in the post-gp by Rosberg, alternatively angry and frustrated.

This Formula 1 that makes us think about and worry us especially for what happened in Shanghai at Renault. The disastrous Sunday has not gone unnoticed, creating many doubts and concerns. Kvyat and Verstappen are already preparing to use the third engine of the four available engines in total. The Dutch of Red Bull was forced to throw away an eighth place, which was gained on track just three laps to go. Reliable sources anticipate us that before the Spanish Grand Prix an Extraordinary Board of Directors will be held directly by the Chairman and CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, who will be about Renault’s situation in Formula 1. It’s certainly not a good sign. A finalized Board of Directors may open in two scenarios: direct engagement with its own team (we have already talked about), or other more drastic “situations”. It’s true that there are agreements until 2016 with Red Bull and Toro Rosso, but it would not be the first time that a constructor takes bad roads for our sport. Do not forget that there is another giant in great difficulty, Honda. Being in the rear, when just twelve months ago McLaren firmly occupied the score zone, is not an exciting show.

Let’s go back to the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix: Ferrari has certainly made a step forward compared to last season. The victory and two podiums are a clear and create excitement; let’s hope this’ll be helpful to overcome the gap that still exists. The current standings (1-Mercedes, 2-Ferrari, 3-Williams, 4-Sauber, 5-Red Bull, 6-Toro Rosso, 7-Force India, 8-Lotus, 9-McLaren, 10-Marussia) underlines the difficulties of Red Bull, Force India and above all McLaren. Sauber, taking advantage of the other’s difficulties, won important points. As for Toro Rosso, we wish the confirmation of a positive mood that showed it being consistently up or beyond the standard on track of Red Bull itself.

It will still be a hot weekend in the back box; everybody’ll busy to observe the movements and contacts of Team Principals, to grasp the possible evolutions.

Gian Carlo Minardi