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I have just seen an article on the autosport website that Paul Stoddart has submited a Minardi entry for the 2008 season.I hope this is so because F1 just aint the same without Minardi and the outspoken Stoddart.:)
Comments
Welcome TTTSNBN-runner !! What an entrance....
Stoddard using the minardi name ???:o
Im not sure if I understand? I would have thought it would have been stoddard racing or European racing etc
IMHO It must either mean ;-
a/ He's got GCM involved - :cool:
b/ He really loves the minardi name / team - :cool: but he should become a member here !!!
It's perhaps ironic that since Stoddart left F1 the teams have been much more co-operative and have started making agreements and such.
Whether Stoddart started all this or created all the animosity- that's for other people to decide.
I'm just glad to hear he's interested in coming back.
Wonder if Eddie Jordan wants in?
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=motorSportsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060328:MTFH75888_2006-03-28_10-30-41_SP32168:1
In short
Team name : European Minardi F1 team Limited
Team to be based in : ledbury
Car : PS04B
:(
[Edited on 28-3-0606 by JumpeySpyder]
- I doubt very much from past conversations with Faenza personal that Mr Minardi would get involved with Stoddart again.
[Edited on 28-3-0606 by Ger]
I'm not entirely sure why he would use it if he plans to start the team in the UK and without involvement from GCM or the Faenza team.
No, I'll continue to support GCM in his new venture and work hard for the return to F1 WITH him.
He'd rather have Direxiv/Alesi or Prodrive/Richards as the 12th team !!!!!
*starts counting down...
[Edited on 28-3-0606 by Ger]
You know, it'd be extremely funny if he'd happen to buy Midland by then and rename it to Minardi.
[Edited on 28-3-0606 by Stan]
I think there will be more than one empty space in 2007 and 2008.
makes you think, why Stoddart sold in the first place. If it was to start up Ozjet, it was a bad move. Live and learn.
Good to see that he has a heart (which he always did) and that its in the right place. Bringing back the Minardi name is a good thing.
For it to be approved, he must have a headquaters and engineering facility, and the appropriate business plan in place which the FIA will review and base their decision apon.
The $45mill from the STR sale could prove an inspired move. Sell off the team, build a bigger and better manufacturing facility, acquire new staff and return when the category is cheaper.
Mad Max requires 08 entries to be in now, so anyone with any interest has to submit their application. That doesn't mean a thing. As noted elsewhere, one should consider that at the very least, Midland, STR, Cucumber, and Toyota may not be there by then, so tyhe chance of buying infrastructure is very real, even if an entry is not accepted for 08.
On a philosophical note however, many would need to wrestle with the morality of following an all-Stoddart Minardi. On the one hand, the name Minardi could be considered in some respects to have outlived the founder in terms of its importance as a brand. Take Brabham for example. If someone decided to re-enter under tha name (after Bernie sells it for shit loads), then there wouold be few who could grumble that it aint Black Jack, therefore it aint Brabham.
A more advanced example is of course McLaren. There is almost no connection anymore in most fans' minds to the Kiwi who started it all.
So the question becomes whether Minardi without GCM and its Italian heritage is an intolerable outrage, or whether pushing the brand forward in a new age, in a disconnected environement is an acceptable compromise towards imortality.
It will makes for an interesting debate. We just hope that Stoddart has as his motive, the spirit of the name and its historical place in Formula One.
We also hope that he finally realises the importance of this place in the name's grounding amongst fans and uses it as a means of communication over the intervening period.
[Edited on 28-3-0606 by Ger] [/quote]
Direxiv / Alesi (McLaren-B) could very well enter in 2007 already
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=27174
There seems to be a lot of money (read: Yen) in Direxiv according to my sources in Japan to start the F1 project.
So there might be no free spot in 2008...or does the FIA reconsider the limit 12 places for 2008 ?
Sadly for Paul I can't see it happening. As for the Minardi name, he still uses it for his two seaters, so I can only conclude that he still has the rights to "Minardi" in F1.
Regardless of one's opinion of Stoddart, he has a knack of stirring debate around Minardi.
Can STR give us the PS05 back? They must be taking up room somewhere.
F1 IS A CIRCUS and a circus needs characters.
Bernie is the Ringmaster, Paul was the Ringleader, among a cast of villains.
There is a lot of commonality between Paul's determination, enthusiasm and irascibility and Minardi's survival and willingness to line up, again and again, in an unfair competition.
A sport needs those who compete even with little hope of winning but for the pride of being there, making up the field and enjoying respect for finishing, something those who say that coming second is the first loser to cross the line will never understand.
Those whose only criterion of success is being first to cross the line, should be allowed to race on their own, and gloat in their own delusions. Same for the drugs cheats, and those who plot to bring down their competition with dirty tricks.
Minardi is different. We fans understand that sport is firstly competing, secondly striving to do ones best and sometimes the near impossible, and respecting others in the field, even if we don't like them or their tactics.
I still have my European Minardi hat, and I look forward to seeing Stoddie again.
Spin
It does seem a little delicious, does it not?
Stoddart is setting himself for another showdown with Mosely, or so it seems.
He does indeed have a base, a team structure, and cars, so would be in a good position from a requirements point of view. Aynone else would have to be demonstrated to be in a better position in order to get the nod.
Mad Max is a wiley character however, and it will be very interesting to see what transpires.
At least it is something interesting to get into.