Minardi M01
The Minardi M01 was the car with which the Minardi Formula One team competed in the 1999 Formula One season.
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| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
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| Constructor | Minardi | ||||||||
| Designer(s) | Gustav Brunner (Technical Director) Gabriele Tredozi (Chief Engineer) George Ryton (Chief Designer) Jean-Claude Migeot (Chief Aerodynamicist) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | M198 | ||||||||
| Successor | M02 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||
| Chassis | Moulded carbon-fibre composite structure | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Double wishbones, pushrod with coaxial spring/damper, and torsion bar | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Double wishbones, pushrod | ||||||||
| Engine | Ford Zetec-R, 72-degree V10 | ||||||||
| Transmission | Minardi six-speed longitudinal sequential semi-automatic | ||||||||
| Power | 735 hp @ 16,000 rpm[1] | ||||||||
| Fuel | Elf | ||||||||
| Tyres | Bridgestone | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | Fondmetal Minardi Team | ||||||||
| Notable drivers | 20.  Luca Badoer20.  Stéphane Sarrazin21.  Marc Gené | ||||||||
| Debut | 1999 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||
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| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
It was driven by Luca Badoer, who had previously driven for Minardi in 1995 and was Ferrari's test driver at the time, and Marc Gené, a Spanish rookie. Prost test driver Stéphane Sarrazin also drove the car for one race after Badoer broke his hand in a testing accident.
Design
It was designated 01 because the team felt that the car marked a new beginning for the team. Gustav Brunner identified the car's greatest shortcoming as its aerodynamics, as the Faenza outfit could not afford long periods of time using wind tunnels.
Livery
For the first two races, the drivers' and mechanics' overalls were blue-gray. From the San Marino Grand Prix onwards, the drivers' and mechanics' overalls were blue-yellow to reflect on the corporate colours of the team's main sponsor Telefónica until the end of the 2000 season.
Racing history
Despite the fact that the car represented a major step forward for a team of Minardi's small budget, they remained near or at the back of the grid, in a season-long battle with the Arrows team.
However, the team did score their first points in four years when Gené finished sixth at the Nürburgring, but this was only after Badoer retired from fourth with a gearbox failure with 13 laps remaining. This point was sufficient to take the team to tenth in the Constructors' Championship; the team was tied with Arrows on points count, but it ended up behind Arrows because Toranosuke Takagi had a better finishing place (7th) at the Australian Grand Prix than Badoer, who finished his highest with a position of 8th at the San Marino Grand Prix, but ahead of the well-funded and resourced British American Racing team.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Minardi | Ford V10 | B | AUS | BRA | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | EUR | MAL | JPN | 1 | 10th | |
| Luca Badoer |
Ret | 8 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 10 | Ret | 13 | 10 | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||
| Stéphane Sarrazin |
Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Marc Gené |
Ret | 9 | 9 | Ret | Ret | 8 | Ret | 15 | 11 | 9 | 17 | 16 | Ret | 6 | 9 | Ret |
References
- AUTOCOURSE 1999-2000, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1999) ISBN 1-874557-34-9
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