1999 Driver Profiles by Julie Gates

Minardi - need more speed

by Julie Gates

The Team: The Minardi car has been reasonably reliable come race day. They have retired several times, but only twice due to mechanical problems. However, they have been hampered with problems in qualifying, and generally only managed to qualify on the last row of the grid. They lack speed, and with a budget that doesn't even begin to get close to the front-runners, they can't afford to experiment with their car as much as other teams. Performances have been promising, however - Luca Badoer was in fifth position at the Australian Grand Prix before retiring. They could start competing for places in the mid-field, but only if significant speed is found and their aerodynamic efficiency is improved... something they are aiming to do now the Silverstone Grand Prix is over.

Driver - Luca Badoer: He missed the Brazilian Grand Prix due to a hand injury from in a testing session. Luca has only finished one race so far this season and has been out-qualified by his Rookie team-mate once, who he should be superior to. Nonetheless, his drive at Australia was an impressive one - he fought his way to fifth position, only to retire with gearbox failure. He also performed well at San Marino to finish eighth after driving the last fifteen laps with only three gears left. He has shown promise on occasions and is a brilliant developer and tester, which will no doubt come in useful for his team. Only one of his retirements has been due to driver error, but his speed has sometimes been questioned.

Driver - Marc Gene: He rocked the boat after signing for the Minardi team weeks prior to the season opener. He has out-qualified his team-mate occasionally and finished in the top ten when he completed the race. However, as expected, he has made driver errors, with accidents the general cause for his retirements. It is fairly difficult to cast judgement, as he was a virtual unknown to now. Saying that, he has performed as many expected: when he has kept the car on the track, he has shown promise, yet he is still in the learning curve so mistakes are expected.

Driver - Stephane Sarrazin: Stood in for the injured Badoer at Brazil and performed well. He produced the team's highest qualifying position (eighteenth) and fought well in the race until mechanical failure on lap thirty one saw him hit the barrier and spin spectacularly. Could do well in the future, but with only one performance, it would be unfair to say more than that.

What next: They have been working on new aerodynamic features for their long-wheelbase car and rumours of a Supertec engine supply next year could bolster team spirits. Need to find extra speed in order to challenge other teams.

Conclusion: Their reliability has been good on race day, but the team suffers poor speed and problems during the qualifying sessions. They lack the budget to do anything exceptional with the car, but have performed better than some anticipated. Their season has been reasonable so far, at least by their standards.

Rating: 4/10