Also Giancarlo Minardi at the 2024 Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but in the role of president of the board of directors of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack in Imola. Here are his words on Ayrton Senna and the evolution of F1
May 20, 2024
It is the race in which the Romagna soul prevails over everything, the one in which heart and passion make up for the problems that often arise when organizing an event like the Made in Italy GP on the Imola circuit. Giancarlo Minardi he has always put this passion and this heart beyond the obstacle: as a constructor of the F.1 team first and from 2020 as president of the board of directors of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack. “Passion yes but as usual we run after everything: having missed the 2023 edition due to the flood, we have made many changes compared to the 22nd, but having missed last year we don’t know if they were effective or not. It is clear that we had some critical issues, which we tried to overcome and we tested it during the 6 hours WEC of the world endurance championship a short time ago and it seems to me with an excellent result.”
HI experienced this Grand Prix first as a constructor, it was the one at home because from Faenza in Imola you were practically on the street, now what kind of emotion is there in being the organizer of this event?
“But they are two different things, because when we were racing I lived 14 km away so we were practically at home. There were many friends who came to visit us, today I am in Imola managing an event that brings tens and tens of millions of euros of movement to the Motor Valley areawith an attendance of 200,000 spectators over the three days here in Imola, which is my circuit but which I believe is among the best in the world”.
Perhaps because in addition to the race there is a city surrounding with many events and all the beauty of the Region…
“Correct, this is something extra that we offer to those who come to Imola, it is a unique Grand Prix given that it can be said to be a city circuit, we are just a few hundred meters from the center and close to the station”
Uno at 76 you could also think about retirement, about taking a break from commitments, but instead in addition to the GP you also organize the Minardi Daya sort of Italian Goodwood with the best of past and modern sports cars, a big party that goes beyond Sunday’s GP…
“It is an appointment with history, because I am convinced that without history there would be neither a present nor a future. I’m lucky enough to still have many friends who come here. It is not a competitive event, it is an exhibition for which we will have many F.1 cars, many cars that have made the history of F.1. And it’s nice because in recent years I’ve seen many young people come to Imola to learn and experience first-hand the history of this sport”
Is just the word passion enough to define all this?
“I think it’s fundamental, because passion makes you do things you normally don’t dothe. In fact, I count a lot on the passion of our friends, of the enthusiasts”
Taking a leap into the past, Giancarlo Minardi, as a manufacturer, raced with Ferrari engines and with Lamborghini engines, therefore the best of local technology. What do you miss from that period? But above all, what would you have liked to do?
“I lacked a bit of luck, especially in ’91, with the Ferrari engine, we were between seventh and eighth place in the world championship, we could have scored a lot of points. But we had chosen, together with Ferrari, a different gearbox than theirs. We paid heavily for some failures when we were in the top six and also fighting for the podium, so I only complain about the lack of luck.”
C‘is perhaps a bigger regret, that Ayrton Senna he promised to end his career with your team.
“These are things that came out later. I am gratified by the fact that he said it, whether or not something else came true. Unfortunately if we still remember him today, after thirty years, it’s because he really was number 1. That he, in his own way, repaid our friendship with this statement, for me it is already enough, regardless of whether this sensational step had occurred or not”.
In your opinion, could there be room for a Minardi-type team in today’s F1?
“Hey, it’s a little harder now. Meanwhile, 19 years have passed, the world has changed radically. Today the teams have more engineers than mechanics, so it’s more difficult. In these twenty years what Toro Rosso has done, how Minardi was renamed and then Alpha Tauri and today Racing Bull, having to start from scratch I believe is, I’m not saying impossible because the impossible doesn’t exist, but very difficult”.
But when you see Racing Bull, ex Alpha Tauri and ex Toro Rosso, you don’t have a surge of pride in saying or thinking: but did I build all this?
“Not about pride, but I’m happy to have made a piece of history that they now havewith many means, with an excellent organization and still present in Faenza of our city, it only gives me great pleasure”.
