Existing Users: Because of an update to the forum software you will need to reset your password. Please use the "Forgot?" link on the sign in form to do so. If that doesn't work, send me an email at feedback@forzaminardi.com and I'll sort you out!
I think that Patrick is more trying do be faster then Albers then devollope the car and get a good setup. Albers said in his interview after the quali that he is trying hard to get the potential out of the PS05 and wasn't so happy with it cause he thought that the PS05 can do much more and can be faster then this. Also intresting is that he is not foccusing on Monteiro but on Kartikeyan, that sounds ambitious. I think it is good to have a driver with such a ambition and a drive to get it better and better. If a car is raw to drive you need to learn how you can drive it clean. Raw driving with a raw car at the moment isn't the best thing to do. Maybe tommorow patrick finds his pace!
Both drivers seemed to have a pretty good Q1, slightly diappointing that PF was so far behind Albers but getting closer all the time to the yellow peril.
The set up and development can only come from more milage which would be a lot easier with a 3rd driver and a 3rd PS05 both for Fridays and testing for the rest of the season.
The speed traps are really encouraging either if we can be close enough to do any overtaking, aslong as the braking problems form Imola have been fixed, or to put a little more wing on for grip in not.
This afternoon’s first qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix resulted in the 17th and 18th fastest times respectively for Minardi F1 Team drivers, Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher. Indicating that the team is making progress with the development of the new Minardi Cosworth PS05, Albers’ time was only half-a-second off the pace of his nearest rival and less than four seconds behind that of leading Bridgestone team, Ferrari. Unfortunately, Friesacher struggled with a chassis imbalance during his qualifying run and was therefore not able to replicate his Saturday morning performance. The team used the third and fourth free practice sessions to continue to fine-tune the handling of the PS05 around the 4.627-km Circuit de Catalunya and to prepare for the afternoon’s first qualifying session. Despite Albers losing his last run of the opening session after his car spun into a gravel trap, the drivers continued to make progress. This was reflected in their on-track performances, both men recording useful improvements when compared with their Friday times.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Position: 17 Time: 1 min 19.563 secs Chassis: PS05/01 “It was a reasonable qualifying lap, even though we had some understeer. It is also a satisfying result, as we had some bad luck yesterday and this morning. Everyone is working really hard, and we are definitely going in the right direction – I think we will have a good car for the race”.
PATRICK FRIESACHER Position: 18 Time: 1 min 20.306 secs Chassis: PS05/02 “I’m not so happy with qualifying, as I was more than a second quicker in free practice this morning. I had more understeer for this afternoon’s run and there just wasn’t enough grip, so I couldn’t really push the car hard in the way I would have liked. We’ll have to see if we can improve tomorrow”.
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“Christijan and Patrick may have qualified P17 and P18 in this afternoon’s session, but the team takes encouragement from a number of factors. As usual, both drivers have been pushing hard, and Christijan’s performance this afternoon saw him just four-tenths of a second off the time set by Monteiro’s Jordan. We also continue to be highly impressed by the new car’s straight-line speed in practice and qualifying, which is thanks to the excellent performance of the Cosworth TJ2005 engine. In fairness, this also indicates we are in the early stages of the PS05’s aero development. There is no doubt, however, that the team’s engineers and technicians are getting to grips with the new car. In addition, we have been able to try some new components this weekend, with promising initial results, and that process will continue during upcoming races. All told, we are satisfied with the progress made so far, and will aim to keep the momentum going tomorrow for final qualifying and the race”.
Seems like Pat was having some mysterious problem during Q1.
Heidfeld and Barrichello have changed engines today. If they don't qualify higher as 7th tomorrow, then our boys will be 15th and 16th on the grid!!! And imagine if Monteiro makes a mistake in Q2 and Albers doesn't, then he might even go up to 14th!!!!:P
Dutch TV said the problem was probably that the engine managment(from PI systems) does'nt comunicate well with the rest of the electronics(Magneti Marelli)
0.4 was Albers slower then Kartikeyan when you look at the fastest lap times.
Albers said that it would be difficult to test between now and Monaco and did a little joke about asking the police in Faenza to set of a piece off road off so they can test the start and software. It's a shame if you look at the good weekend they had but better luck next time!
Sad that it was again a gearbox problem with Albers car and i feel sorry for Patrick that he spinned of. I hope the balance of the car would be better in Monaco cause the walls are very hard:rolleyes:, also Patrick must learn to drive the car clean for Monaco cause you can't drive raw at Monaco.
very sad scene at the start, i feel sorry for all the people who work in faenza, it's hard to swallow such a ridioluos thing.
What drived me mad is that friesacher went out, when that was anyway a chance to test the car. :spank:
Talking about the race, 1)did any of you here realize what a graet race fisichella did? The guy is very unlucky, and this is a very great luck for his teammate...
2) how would you rate Mark Webber's first part of the season?:hehe: I don't want to hurt his many tifosi here, but the boy maybe is a little overrated, just a little. I may be wrong...
3) Have you seen that saturday Minardi had the highest speed?
very sad scene at the start, i feel sorry for all the people who work in faenza, it's hard to swallow such a ridioluos thing.
What drived me mad is that friesacher went out, when that was anyway a chance to test the car. :spank:
Talking about the race, 1)did any of you here realize what a graet race fisichella did? The guy is very unlucky, and this is a very great luck for his teammate...
2) how would you rate Mark Webber's first part of the season?:hehe: I don't want to hurt his many tifosi here, but the boy maybe is a little overrated, just a little. I may be wrong...
3) Have you seen that saturday Minardi had the highest speed?
I was watching with my dad and i was also very mad when Patrick spinned off, we ask to each other why he was overdriving the car like a mad men, the race was already lost for a good result! He is more focussing on Albers then making the car faster:spank:. Where was Fisichella coming from:P, he was suddenly out of nothing ahead of Alonso after the first pistops, like ghost! He had deserve the 2nd spot this race, briljant driving but again bad bad luck.
Heidfeld and Barrichello have changed engines today. If they don't qualify higher as 7th tomorrow, then our boys will be 15th and 16th on the grid!!! And imagine if Monteiro makes a mistake in Q2 and Albers doesn't, then he might even go up to 14th!
I was right !!!:o :D
From TOMS:
Spanish G.P. - Qualifying 2
MOVING ON UP
BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 8, 2005
Minardi F1 Team drivers Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher recorded the 17th and 18th fastest laps respectively in today’s final qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix, and on aggregate times, would therefore normally start from those positions on the grid. With Tiago Monteiro, Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello all having to drop positions as the penalty for unscheduled engine changes to their cars, however, the Minardi drivers will each move up three spots on the starting grid.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Position: 17 Time: Q1+Q2: 2 min 41.141 secs Chassis: PS05/01 “This morning’s run wasn’t too bad from my perspective, and I’m quite happy with how things have gone, but the most important thing now is the race this afternoon. We are definitely going in the right direction with the car, although there remains development to do on it. The Bridgestone tyres are working well here, and every time we run the car we are finding out more about it and making steady progress. I’m feeling positive”.
PATRICK FRIESACHER Position: 18 Time: Q1+Q2: 2 min 42.759 secs Chassis: PS05/02 “The car was not handling so well on that run, and therefore I couldn’t really push to the maximum. I’m finding the front end just a bit too aggressive on turn-in, so we have to work on that. There is no doubt the PS05 has a lot of potential; we just need to spend some more time testing and in the wind tunnel to unlock that potential”.
Spanish G.P. - The race
DOUBLE DISAPPOINTMENT
BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 8, 2005
Despite promising signs of progress on Friday and Saturday, the Minardi F1 Team had what could only be described as a disastrous 2005 Spanish Grand Prix. Starting from 14th and 15th places respectively, drivers Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher were unable to get away from the starting grid as the result of an electronic control problem. After some frantic work by the team, the engines were restarted and both cars joined the race, albeit two laps down on the rest of the field. The drivers then pressed on, determined to retrieve whatever they could from the event. Unfortunately, Friesacher retired on lap 13, when his car ran onto a dirty section of track and spun into a gravel trap, while Albers pressed on for a further eight laps before a suspected gearbox problem ended his race prematurely.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
Time: 1 min 20.124 secs Chassis: PS05/01 “It’s really a shame we had some problems in the race today because we had a good qualifying here in Barcelona, and I think we could have been competitive against the Jordans. Now we will have to wait until Monaco to see what we can do. It’s also a shame for the whole Minardi team, which has been working really hard. It would have been good to finish the race in order to get more data on the new car, but even so, we can take some satisfaction from our performance in this weekend’s qualifying sessions. Now it’s maximum attack for the next race”.
PATRICK FRIESACHER
Time: 1 min 20.865 secs Chassis: PS05/02 “I don’t know exactly what happened at the start – I just let out the clutch and suddenly the engine shut down. After that, we couldn’t get the car into neutral so we lost some time while the problem was sorted out, but we were able to join the race and start putting in some reasonable laps. Then at corner three, I turned in normally, but picked up some understeer. As a result, the car got onto a dirty part of the track, and that was it – I ended up in the gravel. It’s disappointing, and especially for the guys, who have again been working so hard this weekend”.
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“Motor racing is often about highs and lows, and today was definitely a low. All in all, it has not been a good weekend for the Minardi team in Spain, so let’s hope Monaco, in two weeks, will be better”.
very sad scene at the start, i feel sorry for all the people who work in faenza, it's hard to swallow such a ridioluos thing.
I have to agree. This weekend was downright horrible.
Kudos to the guys though, there have been some pretty bad blows recently, but they've kept on going.
What drived me mad is that friesacher went out, when that was anyway a chance to test the car. :spank:
Honestly, how much can we blame him? The PS05 seems no less horribly unstable to drive than the PS04B. I almost cried when I saw the in-car camera footage from our cars and then from those of Red Bull. The RB's are lovely - brake, turn in, steady throttle and on to the next corner. Same engine, different chassis.
The PS05 on the other hand. Nervous under braking, needs constant steering input, drivers are on/off/on/off again the throttle as the car keeps slipping to different directions.
I'd be willing to omit the facts that Friesacher has driven most of the season with a different chassis, is a rookie, had his car stall on the start line and has very little PS05 experience, but... the way the car balance is at the moment, I'm surprised they don't bin it more often. So please, don't put this one on Pat - if he'd be steering the RB, he'd deserve a spanking.
PS. I think the car probably has potential - but there must be something very fundamentally wrong at the moment. If it is fixed, one imagines the thing could easily slay the Jordans - if not...
[quote]very sad scene at the start, i feel sorry for all the people who work in faenza, it's hard to swallow such a ridioluos thing.
I have to agree. This weekend was downright horrible.
Kudos to the guys though, there have been some pretty bad blows recently, but they've kept on going.
What drived me mad is that friesacher went out, when that was anyway a chance to test the car. :spank:
Honestly, how much can we blame him? The PS05 seems no less horribly unstable to drive than the PS04B. I almost cried when I saw the in-car camera footage from our cars and then from those of Red Bull. The RB's are lovely - brake, turn in, steady throttle and on to the next corner. Same engine, different chassis.
The PS05 on the other hand. Nervous under braking, needs constant steering input, drivers are on/off/on/off again the throttle as the car keeps slipping to different directions.
I'd be willing to omit the facts that Friesacher has driven most of the season with a different chassis, is a rookie, had his car stall on the start line and has very little PS05 experience, but... the way the car balance is at the moment, I'm surprised they don't bin it more often. So please, don't put this one on Pat - if he'd be steering the RB, he'd deserve a spanking.
PS. I think the car probably has potential - but there must be something very fundamentally wrong at the moment. If it is fixed, one imagines the thing could easily slay the Jordans - if not... [/quote]
If you know the car is unstable to drive as Patrick comite it himself why must he try to catch Albers? Chris was 35 seconds ahead and was going faster at the moment. I understand that Patrick wants to beat his teammate but in this situation you must think larger then only beating your teammate. Chris is doing a much better job with the PS05 at the moment and is driving the car much smoother and Patrick knows that at the moment, after the quali Patricks sounds very frustrated that he is not able to get the car under control and was not very happy with the gap to Chris, ofcourse its hard for a driver when you see that your teammate is doing a much better job then you do. I don't want do jugde over patrick but maybe it was better for him to learn the car for this race and improve the total preformance of the car then only looking at his teammate. Ofcourse this kind of thinks happend and you can't blame him for his mistake but it was frustrating to see it happen. Better luck next time for Pat and also for Chris ofcourse, i think we can proud of owher both driver if you see what kind of work they must do as rookie's with a hole new car. I really hope the balance will be better in Monaco cause you can't make any mistake in the tide strees of Monaco!
Looking at the overhead it was perfectly synchronised. If I was in the management structure I would want heads on that one.
The weekend was far more encouraging than Imola though, IMO.
Whilst it's fine to concentrate on the Jordans, it's easy to not notice that they are going faster and faster. Minardi have already pulled back over a second and a half to the front of the field and the front of the field has already pulled back all of the losses (and then some) of the aero changes. If the boys can keep the development pace going then we may be in for some competition at some point.
Of course that is all for nought if Minardi cannot run a V8 next year.
Great race from Kimi and lots of shaken heads at Montoya. Chalk and cheese there.
Alonso is a very clever operator. That guy was driving a pig at the beginning of the race and yet he still managed to bring the package home second with some very cool thinking.
Webber is at the opposite end of that equation. He is driving a piece of crap that will likely go OK in some of the races and he really needs to understand that. Instead, he's trying to win races from unwinnable positions. BTW, has anyone noticed that he never, ever gets away from the line well? I mean, even in the Jag (which allegedly had problems in that area).
Lastly, I want to be teleported to the next TOIT/Bridgestone meeting - please.
I think the point that most missed was how quickly the team got to the cars and got them re-fired. Keep in mind that Minardi's pit box is at the other end of the pit lane...
driver, you're right, the car is very unstable and it looks hard to drive. That's why the boy shouldn't have ran like hell, since he was, all in all, just testing the car, as Squad said.
I like friesacher, and I'm starting to like Albers as well. But an experienced driver would have been useful in this moment
Comments
Albers said in his interview after the quali that he is trying hard to get the potential out of the PS05 and wasn't so happy with it cause he thought that the PS05 can do much more and can be faster then this.
Also intresting is that he is not foccusing on Monteiro but on Kartikeyan, that sounds ambitious.
I think it is good to have a driver with such a ambition and a drive to get it better and better.
If a car is raw to drive you need to learn how you can drive it clean.
Raw driving with a raw car at the moment isn't the best thing to do.
Maybe tommorow patrick finds his pace!
[Edited on 7/5/2005 by MinardiSquad]
The set up and development can only come from more milage which would be a lot easier with a 3rd driver and a 3rd PS05 both for Fridays and testing for the rest of the season.
The speed traps are really encouraging either if we can be close enough to do any overtaking, aslong as the braking problems form Imola have been fixed, or to put a little more wing on for grip in not.
Heidfeld and Barrichello have changed engines today.
If they don't qualify higher as 7th tomorrow, then our boys will be 15th and 16th on the grid!!!
And imagine if Monteiro makes a mistake in Q2 and Albers doesn't, then he might even go up to 14th!!!!:P
Dutch TV said the problem was probably that the engine managment(from PI systems) does'nt comunicate well with the rest of the electronics(Magneti Marelli)
MM:"primo ingranaggio"
PI:"What??"
;)
[Edited on 8/5/2005 by Steve]
:rolleyes:
16 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 16 1:19.734
17 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 15 1:20.124
0.4 was Albers slower then Kartikeyan when you look at the fastest lap times.
Albers said that it would be difficult to test between now and Monaco and did a little joke about asking the police in Faenza to set of a piece off road off so they can test the start and software.
It's a shame if you look at the good weekend they had but better luck next time!
14 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.998
This day was bullshit,let'S hope for Monaco.
But I' quite optimistic for Monaco, our engine is fine and so are our drivers, we might battle these yellow bastards :spank:
I hope the balance of the car would be better in Monaco cause the walls are very hard:rolleyes:, also Patrick must learn to drive the car clean for Monaco cause you can't drive raw at Monaco.
What drived me mad is that friesacher went out, when that was anyway a chance to test the car. :spank:
Talking about the race,
1)did any of you here realize what a graet race fisichella did? The guy is very unlucky, and this is a very great luck for his teammate...
2) how would you rate Mark Webber's first part of the season?:hehe: I don't want to hurt his many tifosi here, but the boy maybe is a little overrated, just a little. I may be wrong...
3) Have you seen that saturday Minardi had the highest speed?
Webbo is flattering that car in quali - Nicky boy had an anonymous race from his relegated position.
Good speed from the Minardis but it's utterly useless unless we can go around corners too!
I was watching with my dad and i was also very mad when Patrick spinned off, we ask to each other why he was overdriving the car like a mad men, the race was already lost for a good result!
He is more focussing on Albers then making the car faster:spank:.
Where was Fisichella coming from:P, he was suddenly out of nothing ahead of Alonso after the first pistops, like ghost!
He had deserve the 2nd spot this race, briljant driving but again bad bad luck.
Just keep the damn thing on the track people or none of us will have a job next year.
Have we tried the launch control on GP4 i never have a problem getting away!
From TOMS:
Kudos to the guys though, there have been some pretty bad blows recently, but they've kept on going. Honestly, how much can we blame him? The PS05 seems no less horribly unstable to drive than the PS04B. I almost cried when I saw the in-car camera footage from our cars and then from those of Red Bull. The RB's are lovely - brake, turn in, steady throttle and on to the next corner. Same engine, different chassis.
The PS05 on the other hand. Nervous under braking, needs constant steering input, drivers are on/off/on/off again the throttle as the car keeps slipping to different directions.
I'd be willing to omit the facts that Friesacher has driven most of the season with a different chassis, is a rookie, had his car stall on the start line and has very little PS05 experience, but... the way the car balance is at the moment, I'm surprised they don't bin it more often. So please, don't put this one on Pat - if he'd be steering the RB, he'd deserve a spanking.
PS. I think the car probably has potential - but there must be something very fundamentally wrong at the moment. If it is fixed, one imagines the thing could easily slay the Jordans - if not...
Kudos to the guys though, there have been some pretty bad blows recently, but they've kept on going. Honestly, how much can we blame him? The PS05 seems no less horribly unstable to drive than the PS04B. I almost cried when I saw the in-car camera footage from our cars and then from those of Red Bull. The RB's are lovely - brake, turn in, steady throttle and on to the next corner. Same engine, different chassis.
The PS05 on the other hand. Nervous under braking, needs constant steering input, drivers are on/off/on/off again the throttle as the car keeps slipping to different directions.
I'd be willing to omit the facts that Friesacher has driven most of the season with a different chassis, is a rookie, had his car stall on the start line and has very little PS05 experience, but... the way the car balance is at the moment, I'm surprised they don't bin it more often. So please, don't put this one on Pat - if he'd be steering the RB, he'd deserve a spanking.
PS. I think the car probably has potential - but there must be something very fundamentally wrong at the moment. If it is fixed, one imagines the thing could easily slay the Jordans - if not... [/quote]
If you know the car is unstable to drive as Patrick comite it himself why must he try to catch Albers?
Chris was 35 seconds ahead and was going faster at the moment.
I understand that Patrick wants to beat his teammate but in this situation you must think larger then only beating your teammate.
Chris is doing a much better job with the PS05 at the moment and is driving the car much smoother and Patrick knows that at the moment, after the quali Patricks sounds very frustrated that he is not able to get the car under control and was not very happy with the gap to Chris, ofcourse its hard for a driver when you see that your teammate is doing a much better job then you do.
I don't want do jugde over patrick but maybe it was better for him to learn the car for this race and improve the total preformance of the car then only looking at his teammate.
Ofcourse this kind of thinks happend and you can't blame him for his mistake but it was frustrating to see it happen.
Better luck next time for Pat and also for Chris ofcourse, i think we can proud of owher both driver if you see what kind of work they must do as rookie's with a hole new car.
I really hope the balance will be better in Monaco cause you can't make any mistake in the tide strees of Monaco!
Felipe Massa:
[...] Everybody who finished in front of us was quicker.
:hehe:
I should read Saubers PRs more often :hehe:
[Edited on 8/5/2005 by Homer]
Looking at the overhead it was perfectly synchronised. If I was in the management structure I would want heads on that one.
The weekend was far more encouraging than Imola though, IMO.
Whilst it's fine to concentrate on the Jordans, it's easy to not notice that they are going faster and faster. Minardi have already pulled back over a second and a half to the front of the field and the front of the field has already pulled back all of the losses (and then some) of the aero changes. If the boys can keep the development pace going then we may be in for some competition at some point.
Of course that is all for nought if Minardi cannot run a V8 next year.
Great race from Kimi and lots of shaken heads at Montoya. Chalk and cheese there.
Alonso is a very clever operator. That guy was driving a pig at the beginning of the race and yet he still managed to bring the package home second with some very cool thinking.
Webber is at the opposite end of that equation. He is driving a piece of crap that will likely go OK in some of the races and he really needs to understand that. Instead, he's trying to win races from unwinnable positions. BTW, has anyone noticed that he never, ever gets away from the line well? I mean, even in the Jag (which allegedly had problems in that area).
Lastly, I want to be teleported to the next TOIT/Bridgestone meeting - please.
Felipe Massa:
[...] Everybody who finished in front of us was quicker.
:hehe:
I should read Saubers PRs more often :hehe:
Classic!!
horrible start to the race,
but am glad to see the gap to the rest of the feild closing in the timed sessions :)
I like friesacher, and I'm starting to like Albers as well. But an experienced driver would have been useful in this moment