Archive for category: Interviews

He was 26 years old when debuted in Motor Sports and 35 years old when  raced his first Formula 1 Grand Prix, then joined the court of Gian Carlo Minardi. In his prize record there is also a victory in the 24 hours of Daytona and the fact of having designed and built a LMP1 as a private.

A week before the new F1 World Championship starts, Minardi.it met Giovanni Lavaggi. “Honestly, I don’t really follow the World Cup. In my opinion, races are not interesting or attractive. Unfortunately, you count overtakings with the dropper. The duels that have made great this sport are extinct and the cars seem too complicated to me”.

Let us step back to 1996, the German GP, when you debuted at the wheel of the M196 pushed by Ford. It has been an amazing experience. In spite of the economic difficulties faced by the team at that time, I find great professionals. The frame of the car was really outstanding, and this is not a joke. The engine was the Achilles heel. In addition to paying penalty on the power front, reliability was really lacking. I broke seven engines during six weekends. The Motor-show in Bologna where we risked winning against Benetton and Ligier proves how much the car frame was good.

What did you lack to stay longer in the World Championship? Certainly an economic support. Since the beginning, I had to make ends meet through my own efforts. In those years, Sicily Region would had the means to support me because I was the only Sicilian driver in Formula 1, unfortunately this cooperation did not materialize.

Once as today, there was a dominating team. Yesterday Williams, today Mercedes. Cycles that repeat forever. With a difference, today smaller teams can count on engines that are equals to the official ones. At that time, we used to pay also 180 HP minus than the official ones, almost 25%. Hence it was impossible to fight on equal terms with the others, in spite of a very good frame as the result in Budapest proves. In a circuit where the engine was less crucial, I managed to end in the top ten.

In 1995, you won the 24 Hours of Daytona. What difference did you see between Europe and USA? I can’t say to have lived the American experience entirely because I was racing with a semi-official Porsche team, whose cooperation with the company in Stuttgart has been continuing since 1989. I also raced three editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I must say that the greater difference is in the drivers. In Europe, their level is higher.

After F1, you took part in slick tires and then designed and built a LMP1.  After the experience in F1 it was difficult to find new incentives to go on, so I decided to create a team, we raced with a Ferrari 333 and got some important results with podia and victories as in the 1000 Km in Monza and Magny-Course. At a certain point, I had with me also Gaston Mazzacane who then, in 2000, came into Minardi. When Ferrari decided not to let me have some spare parts in time, I thought to do by myself. That was the first step that led me to design and make a LMP1 privately. I knew that it would not have been an easy challenge. Gian Carlo himself, with who I have maintained a good friendship, had warned me, but I have always liked missions impossible, also because I would have fought with Audi, Peugeot etc.

Despite the tight financial resources, the car was good, easy to drive and had a great potential. At the end of 2006, we were only 2″ from pole. Simultaneously with the economic crisis, we had to face the changes of regulations requiring major investments. An impossible condition for a private. We went on until 2009. Occasionally I take part in historical races, and I happened to share the cabin with Emanuele Pirro.

In addition to be a known Italian entrepreneur, Paolo Barilla has also been a driver. He defended the colors of the Minardi Team in both  F2 and F1 before winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and he took part in the Dakar. The next World F1 Championship is ready to start with the first official tests in Barcelona, and minardi.it has met Paolo to recall his past in Motorsport and talk about the current situation of the Circus.

In the last years Formula 1 has lost many important brands. Is it still a good investment?
In this moment, it is not. Formula 1 is an outdated standard because it hasn’t moved with the times. Bernie Ecclestone and the CVC fund, which handle the business, don’t do what it takes to relaunch it.

What do you mean?
Men born with a certain background and they build a system based on their culture and experience. His time is over. We can use architecture as an instance. Today, if you want build something you have to know the latest energy technologies, you have to put style and design together with technology innovation. Ecclestone was an excellent seller of a product the marketing of which in the 80’s was mainly done by Philip Morris in a masterful way. With the prohibition of advertising on the cars the commitment is decreasing. Today, Red Bull is trying to do something similar, but in a different and less impacting way.

Over the last few years, the grand prix recorded a decline of interest.
We are in the video games era, and their sales volume is staggering . Why should a guy stay in front of tv for almost two hours to see a show where nothing happens, when he can be the real protagonist in a motorsport or adventure game? Wouldn’t it be more useful involve the young audience directly making it protagonist?

How we can do this?
By creating a virtual F1 World Championship, simultaneous to the real one. With the same teams, the same cars and the same calendar where the drivers are the guys chosen by the same teams.
Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, etc. could have a virtual team. This way you would attract a very numerous audience that is also essential for sponsors. We must join our forces. The World fast changed. Let’s look Facebook, Google…

They are talking to change the rules so to improve the show.
Changing F1 isn’t an engineers’ task. They are all about numbers. In their opinion even the paint of the car is an useless weigh. It’s like to go to the restaurant with a nutritionist. I would involve some people of the show business to get some advices, I’d like to see a set designer from Hollywood. I find very limitative the idea that we can save F1 only by changing technical rules. Is it useful to have 1000 hp cars? Today we already have a very fast F1. A Pit-stop lasts 2 seconds…Sometimes I can’t even understand if tires are really replaced. Would it be possible to have fewer technicians? The cars face too fast direction changes and chicanes. They seem to run on some kind of rail without any imperfection. Everything seems very easy. None driver’s effort is transmitted, nor his quality. If we watch a MotoGp race, we can perceive all the efforts and gestures that drivers must do to enter a bend. We should work on the coefficient of adhesion.

Are the teams responsible in some way?
We have to reconsider the whole system. The audience decreases, and Ecclestone increases the GP events and brings Formula 1 in some countries without any motorsport history like Azerbaijan…As we say “He is a lemon squeezer”. He prefers squeeze the organizers and the circuits till the last drop threatening to take away the races. Unfortunately teams care just about their business. Look at Renault affair that has just presented its team: they came back as Manufacturers just because they have the status of “historical team” for guaranteed that is a slice of tv royalties. They came back through the back door without giving a stimulus to great changes.

Also this year, none italian driver will take part in Formula 1, even if many of them proved their value in the most important international championships as GP2, GP3 and European F3.
Today’s Formula 1 is too expensive for a company. It would be necessary a direct action from Ferrari and from the Federation to help these guys to grow and find an outlet in the professionalism.

Paolo’s career among engines started from karting where he has cut his teeth for 5 years before join the single-seaters and take part to Formula Abarth.“I was an autodidact meaning that I had nobody near me. I dedicate the first part of the season to the apprenticeship, but once I became acquainted with the car, I climb positions and reach the top group”.

His meeting with Raverotto in 1981 took him to Formula 3. “In the first four races I gained 28 points thanks to two successes and two podia. In the remaining races, I achieved only 12 points in as many events due to some accidents or technical problems. During that season, Gian Carlo Minardi contacted me to race with him in Formula 2 in Donington and Pergusa. However, in those years I was quite unprepared, in the sense that I was racing because I liked it, without having a clear schedule and F2 was a good target for me because it had twice the horse powers of F3. For a rookie like me the first two races were good, struggling in the middle of the group. Therefore, the following year I decided to continue with the Minardi Team, that Pirelli had started to support. Therefore, the season glided away anonymously. I wanted to become a professional driver and so I passed to the prototypes and then I went in Japan with F3000”.

In 1987 his friend Pierluigi Martini called him to race with him in F3000.“The previous season, Piero had emerged with an unofficial Ralt. Therefore, the preconditions were good”. However, something didn’t work at the start of the championship. “The car is not up to expectations and we can’t understand why. In the season, we realize by chance that the frame lacked some part of the tank rib. A very curious construction mistake. They fix the frame, and we are immediately ahead of everybody, even ahead of the official Ralt. Unfortunately, during the race our car stops to work due to a structural failure”.

In 1989 Gian Carlo called you to substitute Martini in F1.
Formula 1 was my dream, and when Minardi called me to substitute the injured Martini I immediately accepted. Moreover, we raced in Suzuka, a circuit I knew like the back of my hand. Unfortunately, the cockpit does not fit me, because it was built for Piero. In qualifying I am able to do just a run due to my aches, while in race the clutch broke. In retrospect, maybe it has been better that way.

The following year, you are in couple with Martini with the M190.
Also the new car was too small for my height. The season started uphill, but I decided to continue anyway. We got some good results, but the tires were the bigger trouble.
In that moment, Pirelli wasn’t capable to supply all its teams with the same qualitative level, especially favoring Alesi’sTyrrell. In Japan I had cooperated with Bridgestone in the development of F1 tires, therefore I had an excellent know-how and I was able to realise if there were something wrong since the first laps. Moreover, during winter tests in Estoril with the old car, I raced 3” faster than in the racing weekends of the following year. Unfortunately, Pirelli has never declared this fact openly. The season finished ingloriously.

How do you judge your experience in the World championship?
It was a fabulous and extraordinary experience. In those years my goal was F1. If I hadn’t achieved it, I would have missed something. Then, I understood that environment wasn’t for me because it doesn’t reflect my personality. To stay in F1 you have to be very determined, ready for anything. You must make sure that all listen to you, keeping the tension high within the team, as Senna or Piquet did.
In a recent interview, Piquet declared that he had attacked several times Mansel about personal facts with the sole aim to destabilize him and take off his concentration. If we come nowadays, Vettel has been very hard with Webber. I see in Verstappen the same determination. He seems to say “Get out of the way, I am coming”.

You also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans
At endurance races I was always good. Also the environment was definitely different. My personality doesn’t tend to bully the others, I work together with my teammates to get our common goal.

…And you took part to several Dakar editions.
It was a pleasant and magical experience, especially in Africa. I took part to different editions without any ambition. We just wanted to reach the finish line and live that experience in the best way.
 

By virtue of his past, he is the icon of Minardi F1 Team. He led his M185, the first single-seater signed by the team from Faenza, to debut. He achieved the first world point in the US GP of 1988 and raced 104 in 120 Grand Prix, alongside Gian Carlo Minardi. We are speaking of Pierluigi Martini whose prize list also shows his win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999. He has continued the couple Minardi-Martini of the 70s when his uncle Giancarlo raced in Formula 2 for Passatore and the Everest stable that belonged to a very young Minardi.

“I had known Minardi since I was a boy because I attended my uncle’s races in Formula Italia and Formula 2. In 1983, precisely along with Gian Carlo, driving the Minardi-BMW F2, I achieved the second place at Misano after winning also Formula 3 title. He wanted me at his side for his debut to Formula 1 in 1985”, Pierluigi Martini remembers on Minardi.it. “It was an experience as difficult as important because being the sole driver all the responsibilities were on my shoulders. Anyway, that was a positive season because even if I was a novice, we achieved the eight place in Australia. According to today’s score, this result would have gave us the first world points. At the end of season our paths diverged. I came back to F 3000 and I conquered the second place of the Intercontinental World Championship in 1986. Then, with great pleasure, Gian Carlo called me back by his side for the Detroit grand prix in 1988. I repaid his confidence with the first world point thanks to the sixth place. A wonderful relationship started and lasted till my retirement from F1 in 1995, with just a parenthesis in ’92 with the Scuderia Italia. After a break, the vitory arrives at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with BMW in 1999”.

How would you describe the “romagnolo” Gian Carlo Minardi?
He is a unique person. Thanks to a bit of “temerity”, which is a result of intelligence and passion for this sport, he built something that is really incredible for Romagna. He has been able to launch a lot of drivers, and also top level engineers and mechanics. Nobody is like him.

Do you have any anecdote related to its figure to tell us?
Now no special anecdote comes to my mind. Surely, we are talking about a person that was very attentive to observe the group and protect it from external attacks. A great family man.

What teachings have you gained with Minardi Team?
Having raced with teams like the Scuderia Italia, Williams and BMW at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Master GP, I have realized and appreciated the organization of Minardi team. When you are in F1 with restricted resources, you learn to optimize your force and synchronize all your sections. Without any doubt, I can affirm that Minardi Team was really a great stable, a perfect one. It lacked only the engine. Contrary to what happens now, in those years an “old” engine was able to pay also 200 hp compared to competition.

We know that engineer Chiti used to call you “Little Pheasant”. How does this funny nickname come from?
He used thisnickname to gain sympathy and to hide from the “blunders” that he committed. With that nickname he usually tried to defuse a difficult situation.

Along with Morbidelli, you have been the very first driver to have a Ferrari Client engine. Which aspect of the engine from Maranello impressed you ?
Unfortunately, that engine was born to match an automatic transmission, which we lacked at that time and so it created problems with the clutch. The sound was certainly great, but to become protagonists it would have been nicer to have the appropriate reliability.

Speaking with you, the incredible accident in Monza in 1993 comes to our mind. What happened and what Minardi told you in the pit?
At that moment, I was protecting my seventh place. Up to 10 laps to go I was in fifth position, but the breaking of the fifth gear made me loose some positions. I tried to defend myself from the attack of Christian and I moved on the right, but he followed me. I then heard the hit at the rear. With its wing he touched my rear wheel. Not seeing him anymore in my mirrors, I thought the worst. The returning lap was quite difficult. I was afraid he were finished among the audience. Fortunately, everything went out for the best for him. Even in that circumstance, Gian Carlo has been very good at handling the situation. The telemetry pointed out that I had not committed any impropriety. Therefore, the fact was dismissed as a racing accident.

With which driver you founded a special friendship, and who has been the harder competitor?
I founded a deep friendship with Paolo Barilla. With all the others, I had a great esteem and a healthy rivalry. The harder was JJ Lehto during my period in the Scuderia Italia.

104 F1 grand prix with Minardi Team. What have been the memorable moments?
I had  lot of good times. From the first world point in Detroit, to the lap ahead of everybody in Portugal, or the fourth place in Estoril in 1991. The times spent to develop the car along with engineers Tredozi and Costa are memorable. In those years, the chronometer was the only thermometer to judge developments. When you found the right direction, it was a great satisfaction.

The most difficult times?
Without any doubt, the demise of Ayrton Senna that convinced me to end my F1 adventure the following year. I would add some accidents: at Nurburgring, Montecarlo and Imola when I broke my leg.

You have mentioned Ayrton Senna.
He was the greatest driver that I had the pleasure to meet. He was always able to bring out the best from the team. He gave the 120% and was able to involve the all group urging it to give its 110%.

Due to your strong relationship with the team from Faenza, and to the fact of belonging to Romagna, were you involved in the choice of your team-mate?
Minardi made his choices. He was always looking for drivers who could put me in trouble. This made me a bit angry  but at the same time, it was a great stimulus.

Did you use to enter the factory to talk with the engineers and see “the birth” of the machines?
I lived in the factory. I liked very much to see the engineers’ work on the car. From there you could take off 2-3 tenths of asecond from your lap time. Those have been fantastic years.

This year you were back under the wheel of the M186 and the M189 in Austria and in Goodwood. What did you feel in those moments?
I realized how we were crazy to run at 300 km/h with those cars. However, I feel like the time hadn’t stopped. I immediately felt comfortable. I drove the M186 just during a test and I must say that it is an extraordinary, competitive and well-balanced car. With a Cosworth engine it would have gave a great satisfactions to the team.
The M189 was a customized car that gave us two fifth and two sixth places, the first row in America and the head of the race in Portugal. It has been pleasant come back in the cockpit.

In the last months you have anticipated us the project of a Minardi-Day. We know that now a great expectation is growing among true enthusiasts. What can you tell us, are preparations going on?
Along with Minardi, I am working to prepare the program, also asking advice for costs. The period should be at the end of June, but we will know something more only next months. Our aim is to bring back at Imola all the single-seaters built by Gian Carlo, with other F1 cars. Our intention is to recreate the old amazing and memorable atmosphere.

He has just closed his TCR International Series season with Honda Civic, but he defended the colors of Minardi Team in Formula 1 World Championship from 1990 to 1992. Minardi.it has met Gianni Morbidelli just back from Argentine to relive those years along with Gian Carlo Minardi and his boys.

After joining Scuderia Italia, you made your debut with Minardi in 1990 during the US Grand Prix that was preparatory to entire 1991 season.
The two last grand prix of 1990 season were the prelude to two beautiful years with Gian Carlo Minardi. It was like a family life with true human relationships. I had the opportunity to learn a lot and to grow professionally. From the point of view of results, we had some difficult races because we lacked reliability. In qualifying we could safeguard ourselves at first thanks to Ferrari and then to Lamborghini engines, but during the race we have always had a lot of problems due to reliability. M191 was the first car signed by a very young Aldo Costa who proved all his value in Mercedes, and with whom I have maintained a wonderful relationship. In 1991 he managed a difficult very long 12-cylinder which also created some twisting complications on the frame.

You spent with Gian Carlo Minardi’s team also ’92 season. Which moment do you remember more pleasantly?
The Mexican Grand Prix was one of the most beautiful one, I closed in seventh and missed the point zone just for a place. Unfortunately, unlike today, points were assigned in dribs and drabs at that time. Qualifying in Imola is another pleasant memory: Pierluigi Martini faced me till death, tenth after tenth, and we both gained the top 10. One can’t forget the excellent cuisine of Minardi. Drivers from other teams used to come and eat under our pavilion. I have maintained a good relationship with many of them and particularly with Luca Zama.

The most difficult moment?
It is linked to a tragicomic event. During qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, I destroyed my Minardi due to an incomprehension with Jean Alesi. Into the pits, Gian Carlo made me get on the spare car to end my session. Then the suspension stopped to work and I crashed again. At that point, from the radio, Gian Carlo Minardi told me:” come back, but don’t hurry up, after all we are short of cars”. Even in the most difficult moments, he has always been able to defuse tensions with a joke or an adage from Romagna.

How did the Circus change your life?
In that period I had a double visibility, I was a first-string for a F1 team, and I was also a Ferrari test driver. The fame and all the events overpowered me. I was in a kind of limbo, also because I was very young. I was in the place where every guy would have liked to be. I didn’t realized what was going on. Everything was lived with enthusiasm. Instead, growing up I enjoyed the experience.

The transition period from 1991 to 1990 spectated the arrival of Ferrari engine in Faenza.
Compared to Ford…it was  totally a different world. At that time cars were constantly improved.We passed from 8 to 12-cylinder. Just because of the couple and the noise, they were two opposite “means”. 12-cylinder “sound” was a symphony. Driving it was a pleasure.

If you had to tell a particular and funny story about Gian Carlo Minardi and his Romagna?
The phrases that he was usual to say, something like “Let’s pack the violin and let’s go” or “Confident is dead”. I remember Gian Carlo’s humanity fondly. We were accustomed to eat piadina romagnola and tortellini, but once invited in Kyoto by a Japanese sponsor we had to stay in a typical Japanese hotel with all their customs and habits, from the cuisine to massages, very long ones. We laughed a lot.

You shared the pit with Martini-Fittipladi and Zanardi. Who was the nut harder to crack?
Definitely Piero Martini. A real bulldog and an integral part of Minardi team. He was fast and determined. I was an ambitious young, and he was a successful driver. He has been a great stimulus to push stronger and stronger.

You have just closed TCR International Series.
Among high and low moments. We have also led the championship, but in the second part of the season we experienced some problem with the turbo and the brakes that excluded us from the challenge for the title. Compared to others, our car was “unripe” due to a lack of kilometers. I am in an excellent relationship with the team and I have the will to continue with TCR. I hope to define my 2016 schedule by Christmas.

Alberto Diaz Lima (President & Owner of Cisitalia Global Group, together with the engineer  Mr. Enrique Scalabroni, were guests of Gian Carlo Minardi in Faenza. Mr. Diaz Lima is the unique depository of the glorious brand Cisitalia that in the 50s realized futuristic cars and wrote the history for its innovations. Cisitalia Group’s symbol par excellence is without any doubt the 202, driven by Tazio Nuvolari, who took the car to gain many successes, and exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York for 40 years.

“It was a courtesy meeting and, personally, I was very pleased to share my own opinions both with President Diaz Lima and Eng. Scalabroni. In recent years, the Group has undertaken to design a modern version of the historic brand Cisitalia, as well as create a new edition of cars with construction systems of that era“, Gian Carlo Minardi says. “The 202 was a futuristic car for those years and the most famous model, becoming an icon of Made in Italy Design“.

In 2012, the new challenge was called 202 E: redesigning the sport coupé car that became a milestone in automotive history. A proof of concept, based on the study of Cisitalia 202.