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05 looks like another write off
Having seen Stoddarts comment that the Hybrid car is so slow that Minardi should be allowed to run the 04 car instead.
I fear I've written off next year. One wonders what the plan has been for the 05 season. Its pretty clear there was no hoarding of money to develop a new car.
The hybrid car's slower because thats what the FIA rules were meant to do.
If you look at Minardi's car, the monocoque is much too large for the size of the wings, ie too much frontal profile and drag. The solution the team need a smaller tub.
We've seen Minardi taken down too many dead ends under Stoddart, buying the Arrows hacks, taking on the 2 seater program etc.
On the driver side it seems that we are searching beneath the barrel as opposed to scraping the bottom. How many drivers are going to front up with $5-$8 million to drive uncompetitive machinery.
There's no quick fix either, its too late for a new designer to affect next year's car and even if we outsourced our aero program to a proper company like Aerolab it would take half a season to have any affect.
I fear that the FIA could reintroduce the 107% rule on the grounds of safety in order to limit speed differentials during the race. Where that leaves Minardi is a no brainer....
Comments
1. Minardi signs contract to use Cosworth TJ engines.
2. Cosworth's future in doubt. 2005 car put on hold, dispensation requested in the event that engines can't be delivered. Stoddart comments that if the PS01 has to conform to 2005 regs, it will be a disaster for Formula One.
3. Cosworth sold. TJ engines will be delivered. 2005 program resumes but now behind schedule. Stoddart requests the first fly-away races be done using the 2004 package.
4. Winter testing begins. Nissany notes that the car is noticably slower and harder to drive under 2005 regulations.
5. You make this post: Simply put, what you stated is not true, never happened.
As for the engine No one seriously suggested that Cosworth would go out of business. The hold up was the price and whether Minardi could afford it. Ita a case of reading between the lines....
Nobody denies that the tub is ageing. If Quigley and I have our shit straight, that will be no longer once the European races roll around.
Oh and before people bleat on about 'the space can only be sold for the amount it can be bought for ......blah blah blah, I'll agree. However I still say Mianrdi undersold it cos I have no faith at all that the commercial team for Minardi can do a decent job.......examples of going to far off lands and drumming up sponsor money in places like China etc has become fruitless. Now they are really in the crap cos being content with surviving at the back of the grid for these last few years has made them even less attractive to sponsors......better to have gone out in a blaze of glory than to wither away..........
[Edited on 25/11/2004 by StoddieBasher]
The crux of it all is though... hoarding didnt occur. we have no cash for development or next years car...
we have many sponsors each paying 20 quid... thats the crux of it all.