1993 - Points en masse...

The 1993 car was very different from previous models as it was completely white, the first time the team ditched its traditional yellow and dark blue livery. What had harked back to Minardi tradition was that the team returned to Cosworth power, after two seasons with Ferrari and Lamborghini engines had left the budgetary situation strained. Austrian engineer Gustav Brunner had joined the design crew and Brazilian driver Christian Fittipaldi was joined by Italian Fabrizio Barbazza. There is some debate among Minardi fans whether 1991 or 1993 was the best season the team ever had. While Minardi scored one point more in 1993 than in 1991, it finished the season in 8th rather than 7th. Still, it was a sharp improvement from the lacklustre performance in 1991.

The season started with a bang for the small team from Faenza, as Fittipaldi finished the opening race at Kyalami in fourth position. While only five cars finished that race, Fittipaldi had qualified in a very respectable 13th spot, underscoring the pace of the new car. While Barbazza usually qualified at the back of the grid, his race pace was astonishing and he put the Minardi on a sixth spot twice in a row, at Donington and Imola. Christian Fittipaldi would add two further points at Monaco by coming in fifth, ahead of Martin Brundle in the Ligier and Michael Andretti in the McLaren.

Barbazza, who had brought sponsorship from tool maker Beta, found himself out of cash after the French Grand Prix and was replaced by Pierluigi Martini, Minardi's most loyal driver, who had been left sidelined after a year with Scuderia Italia. The Italian Grand Prix of 1993 saw the team's most spectacular crash. Just a few hundred metres ahead of the finish line, Fittipaldi's front wheel touched with Martini's rear wheel. The two were running in 7th and 8th position. Due to the high speeds of the Monza home straight, Fittipaldi's car was launched into the air, made a full 360 degrees backward flip and landed on all four tyres, skidding across the line to finish. Whether Fittipaldi was trying to overtake his teammate or whether Martini made an unpredictable move is still not clear until this day.

The budgetary situation was very bad at the end of the 1993 season and Frenchman Jean-Marc Gounon, who brought some fresh sponsorship cash, was hired to replace Fittipaldi for the final two races of the season.