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Tuesday, February 27
Preview: Minardi
Reuters

LONDON -- Following are facts and figures about the Minardi team heading into the 2001 Formula One season:

2001 Outlook

Spain's Fernando Alonso, 19, will be the third youngest driver to start a grand prix and can expect to spend much of his time at the back of the field. But he is seen as a genuine talent and is on-loan from Benetton. Minardi, under new ownership after being bought by Australian Paul Stoddart, have scored one point in five years and will be lucky to score another this season. Their Ford-based European V10 lags on power but Stewart won a race with a version of it in 1999. They had yet to name a second driver two weeks before the start.

Based: Faenza, Italy and Ledbury, England.

Team principal: Paul Stoddart

Drivers:
Fernando Alonso (Spain), 19 (born July 29, 1981)
Tarso Marques (Brazil), 25 (born January 19, 1976)

Test driver: Andrea Piccini (Italy), 22.

Car: Minardi PS01, powered by European V10 (Ford-based).
Tires: Michelin.

Formula One record:
Grand Prix: 254, poles 0, wins 0.
First GP entered (as Minardi): Brazil 1985.

Minardi, despite their lack of success, have a reputation for finding talent -- such as Italian drivers Alessandro Nannini, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.

2000 season (Marc Gene/Gaston Mazzacane): 10th, no points. eighth x3, ninth x1, 10th x2, 11th x1, 12th x3, 13th x2, 14th x3, 15th x5, 16th x1, 17th x1, retired x12.

Team history
1979 - Team founded by Giancarlo Minardi.
1985 - Formula One debut with Italian Pierluigi Martini.
1989 - First points (fifth and sixth in Britain).
1991 - Ferrari engines take team to best season, finishing seventh with six points.
1992 - Powered by Lamborghini engines.
1994 - Team enters into alliance with Scuderia Italia.
1996 - Flavio Briatore and Gabriele Rumi, who owned the former Fondmetal team, acquire majority stake in team.
1997 - Briatore sells shares to Rumi and leaves company.
1998 - Austrian designer Gustav Brunner, who designed the car in 1993, returns to Minardi.
1999 - Cesare Fiorio arrives as team manager.
2000 - Team sold to Australian businessman Stoddart, who buys Rumi's stake, after failed attempt to sell to Pan American Sports Network (PSN). Minardi remains as team director.

Season by season (year, standing, points, drivers):
1986 - no points (Alessandro Nannini/Andrea De Cesaris)
1987 - no points (Nannini/Adrian Campos)
1988 - 10th, one point (Campos/Luis Perez Sala/Martini)
1989 - 10th equal, six (Martini/Perez Sala)
1990 - no points (Martini/Paolo Barilla/Gianni Morbidelli)
1991 - seventh, six (Martini/Morbidelli/Roberto Moreno)
1992 - 11th equal, one (Morbidelli/Christian Fittipaldi/Alessandro Zanardi)
1993 - eighth, seven (Fittipaldi/Fabrizio Barbazza/Martini/Jean-Marc Gounon)
1994 - 10th, five (Martini/Michele Alboreto)
1995 - 10th, one (Martini/Luca Badoer/Pedro Lamy)
1996 - no points (Lamy/Giancarlo Fisichella/Tarso Marques/Giovanni Lavaggi)
1997 - no points (Jarno Trulli/Ukyo Katayama/Marques)
1998 - no points (Shinji Nakano/Esteban Tuero)
1999 - 10th, one point (Marc Gene/Badoer/Stephane Sarrazin).

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