Good News At Minardi!

[Kicking-back]

Alonso and Webber were lent to him by Briatore and it made financial sense to run them - and both did well in F3000. Wilson was the F3000 champion.

Hardly having a "great eye" - none of them was exactly plucking a driver from obscurity.

[steve nielsen]

we will have to wait untill they test with the other teams to see if these times mean anything.

[grumpy1]

Webber was noticed by Stoddart when he drove sports cars.He was not the owner of Minardi at the time so he used his best contact to get Mark a drive and that was Briatore.Mark was orriginally destined to stay with the Mercedes in sports cars and was released to become test driver for Renault.

The Grumpy1

[ASCII Man]

Originally posted by nkh
According to the danish F1 site pole-position.dk they use a Cosworth CR3L engine, is that a development of the engine they used in 2003 or is it the same as Jaguar and Jordan has this year?

Yes, Minardi uses last year Cosworth engines which have been further developed to suit the new regulations while Jordan and Jaguar use the new ones.

[cds_uk]

Just seen some pics of Bruni testing the new car, i know it means nothing but the car really does look nice, very neat and tidy, speaking as a dyed in the wool Minardi fan lets hope they can close up a bit to the rest of the field this year and maybe bag a point or two.

[steve nielsen]

The car looks just like the PS03(wich was very much like the PS02, it used the same monocoque, just like the PS04 does.) with only a new rear wing and airbox, everything else(and I mean everything) is still the same.

[RWC]

As others have allready said-that much improvement ain't enough since '02.
Still,i whish them all the best.As allways

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by RWC
As others have allready said-that much improvement ain't enough since '02.
Still,i whish them all the best.As allways

Actually, the 4 seconds Bruni shaved off, was 2003's time, not 02's, and I think thats pretty substancial really...

[Mr V]

Originally posted by steve nielsen
everything else(and I mean everything) is still the same.

Do you work for Minardi Steve? If not, how would you know, after all, Verstappen isn't there anymore so he wouldn't know if it was the same.

[GTRMagic]

Maybe Verstappen is taking seat fittings now that it seems Baumgartner's sponsors havent made the deadlines....

[Kicking-back]

If they're four seconds a lap quicker than last year, they'd be looking at the front of the grid.

I somehow don't imagine that will be the case.

[mountainstar]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
Maybe Verstappen is taking seat fittings now that it seems Baumgartner's sponsors havent made the deadlines....

I'd say that is quite likely.

[Raglanparade]

Minardi wouldnt be 4 seconds a lap quicker if they had a V10 turbo

[vatuloa]

Lets hope Pauls got the money to keep testing with just 3 weeks to go to the day it is getting interesting.

[golem]

I'd say they may be running light too.

[steve nielsen]

Originally posted by Mr V
Do you work for Minardi Steve? If not, how would you know, after all, Verstappen isn't there anymore so he wouldn't know if it was the same.

the outside of the car is(check the photo's)apart from the engine cover and rear wing 100% the same, the gearbox is the same(Minardi don't have money to develop a new one), the engine is the same, the suspension seems to be unchanged, so if there are any changes it must be the electronics.

[steve nielsen]

and: Yes, Jos know what has been changed, he has seen Minardi's plans for the "new" in december and after that decided not to do another year at Minardi.

[steve nielsen]

Originally posted by golem
I'd say they may be running light too.

they don't have to, there was'nt a F1 car at that track in 2 years, a lot of things change in 2 years.

for instance:

Takuma Sato's lap record at Barcelona set on the 3rd of februari was 2.5 seconds faster than Michael Schumachers pole time in the 2002 Spanish GP.

2002 Michael Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari 1:16.364

2004 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:13.797

[Bridget Stone]

Steve, I couldn't find a source for these reports, but it seems that Trust will no longer support Jos and has changed sides to help Christijan Albers in his racing career. If its true, Mr. Perridon, CEO of Trust, will have broken his word that they will unconditionally support Verstappen whatever happens. Thats not very gentleman-like, to say the least. I dont know if you already have some official sources to confirm these reports.

love, bridget

[steve nielsen]

Yes I know, Peridon has stabbed Jos in the back.

[Mr V]

Maybe Trust and the Peridon fella don't want to sponser a driver in any series other than F1?

[Bridget Stone]

But Albers currently drives in DTM and is doing very well there (second in the last season). I guess Perridon hopes he can launch Albers next year in f-1, when Mercedes perhaps will deliver the engines for the Jordan.

love, bridget

[steve nielsen]

I can't see Albers ever coming to F1, he tested for Minardi several times and no one was impressed by his times.

[Dutch chap]

I think the obvious choice for Jos would be to try to find a seat in the US, but I don't think Trust will back him up since it's not their market. They're just interested in Europe.

[Bridget Stone]

So all in all its looking very gloomy for Jos. I mean, without the backing of the Trustmoney his chances of getting a seat during the season must be practically non-existent, and the same, like Dutch chap says, goes for a possible American adventure.

love, bridget