Gian Carlo Minardi “Things don’t go well at all”

Double points, new penalties, pole Trophy…Is this really the right way to make the F.1 Championship more engaging? It looks like some innovations have to be necessarily introduced to make the Championship more and more attractive, but I don’t think the result achieved will be as good as expected. In my opinion, what is necessary to do is to introduce more understandable regulations, rather than making use of those stopgap measures. A marketing strategy should be carried out to attract race enthusiasts, instead of shutting oneself up in one’s own motorhome, which is locked down more than a fortress.

It would be nice that enthusiasts could live the paddock’s atmosphere and see with their own eyes the race week end, have an autograph signed by their idol and a picture taken with him. I’ve got the feeling that many people cannot even recognize drivers, instead (apart from those who got onto the podium).

I think that the rule according to which drivers will be awarded double points at the last race, it’s simply ridiculous. A driver runs the risk to see all his work being ruined by only one race. It’s the same for third-tier teams. Marussia got the tenth place in the constructors’ championship, thanks to a 13^th-place-finish (the team’s best result), one position ahead of the Caterham team. It’s a –one-position-gap which is worth at least 10 million dollars. The Russian-English team fought tooth and nail throughout the season. Next year, it could take only one race week end to ruin all the work done. This could be done more by the luck of rivals, than by their skills…..

In these days FIA has announced it wants to add a new team to the list of the teams which have been taking part in the World Championship for years. Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi have already declined the invitation, as they’ve been already engaged in some covered-wheel-Championships such as Le Mans and other World Championships. The causes of that can be many: car companies consider endurance competitions as a better way to promote their image and devolve technology to standard cars. Another reason is that nowadays it’s so difficult for car companies to partner with a chassis manufacturer who can ensure good results in F.1. At the beginning of the year Porsche was very close to close an agreement with Red Bull, but, due to some reasons, the agreement was never closed. The point is that next year the Le Mans competition will be very interesting, as important car companies the likes of Toyota, Audi and Porsche will take part in that. They’ll show us a breathtaking challenge. The participation of those big companies will make those Championships more and more interesting. Ferrari, through President Montezemolo’s statement, announced to be interested in those Championships. After all, a constructor such as Ferrari, who won the GT2 World Championship, cannot ignore these scenes.