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It was reported in Autosport that both Merc and BMW are seriously considering the V10 route - but are running dual V8/V10 programmes because they can't make a final decision - they haven't got the specs for the V10 restrictions off the FIA.
Just go…
A self respecting F1 team should at least try to build a new car every year, and at least want to be up there with the big boys. When the team are doing that, and we're still moaning, then call us negative.
The option to go V8, even if unlikely to be financially viable, should have been left open for much longer (up to the point at which serious expenditure would have had to have been laid out on the new car required for a V8). What is going to drive a…
Welcome to Division 2. Stoddart's (and Cosworth's) accountants are cheering, but nobody else.
PS can't have weighed up the balance of performance and expenditure, because no one has decided yet what the performance level for V10s will be. One thin…
Albers has proved respectable - and he has a good set of sponsors too. We should be looking to develop with him over the next 3 years - I just hope that Stoddart's statements about 2006 don't put them all off.
Freisacher has some pace, but he seems…
Well engineers do love test drivers who are consistent...
Far better news today, some progress made. Another couple of days at a different circuit after Barcelona and they might just be sorted for Nurburgring.
Even now, four seconds off the frontr…
For Stoddart to throw his own personal money at the problem would be rather reckless, don't you think? When you look at what Toyota and others are spending? What difference would even another $25m a year make? It's very easy to ask others to fritter…
They did it before, with the turbos versus atmos. And it was a daft idea then too.
As to Stoddart selling, well it rather depends who to. Someone like Mateschitz looking for something PR led would be a disaster, a manufacturer would be a disaster (…
Self relegated to Division 2 in 2006 already, with the current car, the cheapest second hand engines Stoddart can source, and the richest drivers around who will lower themselves to drive for us.
On ITV they did a pre-race feature on Stoddart's bus…
We rerally are at the start of a classic period for F1, don't ya think? MS still hacks it, Alonso and Kimi as superstars (maybe Montoya too...), lots of competitive teams and drivers. Today was a taster of just how great it could be. If the politics…
But where's the money coming from, with no manufacturer image to uphold, and the customers paying for everything? Even with Minardi, Midland and a mythical new entrant, what does that give them to spend, $50m tops? With lots of ifs and buts that the…
So in the 2 day test, they have to sort out the gearbox reliability, get to grips with the new aero package, tease out any remaining mechanical glitches, and give Marchy Lee enough kms to qualify for his superlicence (as well as evaluate the size of…
Mechanicak layout, formerly always Minardi's strongest area. If it is still like this after a two day test (assuming they have some reliable running at Mugello), then you would have to agree.
I've only got the times and Formula1.com's commentary to…
Looked better, everywhere except on the bloody stopwatch!
Imola's a tricky, technical circuit, no ideal place to debut an untested car, and the drivers made some errors, but 3 secs off Karthikeyan just won't cut it. We won't know until Nurburgring …
That car is not in the ballpark, untested or not. I'd go and support another team myself, like MattR - unfortunately, that's not an option for us real fans, so I'll have to shoot myself instead.
Stoddart's probably already got some sort of lease out thing going on four of em.
Seven! Ha! 1 for the cars, one for the spares and tools, one for the coffee machine - sorted.
Too right, far too much downbeat talk on here. That car is just beautiful (until some fool paints the sidepods and the sides of the nose white).
And for the fools who would draw conclusions from shakedown times, I think it is safe to assume Rubens …
They really need a full three days of testing, preferably with 2 cars, but it doesn't sound like they are going to get it.
If there is no proper test prior to Imola, and no 3rd chassis available at Imola to put a test driver in, I think they would …
I understood the testing agreement was no testing in the month before a GP on that circuit, so as long as the test is not at Imola, then no problem.
It seems they will test if they get the car ready in time, if not then a shakedown, and treat the I…
I thought Salvo's interview on here was way superior for insight and new facts - the Autosport thing was just a few quotes, linked by the usual cliches, alongside a few stock photos. At least they remember Minardi exist, but Autosport is like F1 its…
It will be a long wait for the shower over at TheOtherMinardiSite to get up to speed. Forget them, stay here instead. Some of 'em here actually know something about F1, there's an occasional bit of inside info, and you can even buy a T shirt, which …
It's not the Verstappen thing that riles me about SteVeFan, it's the "Minardi can do no right" attitude. Hardly guaranteed to win friends and influence people on here. We have room here for scepticism, even despair, but not defeatism (and especially…
Stoddart no longer has anything left to lose - he's already made his bed, now he has to lie on it. Anything further he says will be a combination of righteous anger and of playing to the public gallery, thereby forestalling any attempts by Max at di…
Those times are perfectly respectable in the circumstances for the 04B. A new car and an engine with around 100 more horses should leave those Jordans well adrift, and bring us onto the tail of some of the others.
And SteVefan, don't even think abo…