1993 - The Minardi M193
The Minardi team returned to the Ford Cosworth V8 power. These ones came from the Fondmetal F1 team and dated back to Jaguar’s 1991 Sports car year. This also meant less power, but also low fuel consumption, so 10-15 kg less weight. The new M193 was the result of excellent teamwork between Gustav Brunner, who was newly arrived in Faenza, Aldo Costa and Gabriele Tredozi. Gian Carlo decided to give the car a new outfit: white with the logos of the new sponsors Beta tools, Valleverde shoes and Cocif doors. For Minardi, this was the first single-seater equipped with hydraulic passive suspension to reduce the car’s pitching variations during breaking and acceleration. Minardi also introduced the sequential gearbox and by mid-season traction control was tried.
In January, Christian Fittipaldi and Fabrizio Barbazza were confirmed as drivers.
The season started with a bang for the small team from Faenza, as Fittipaldi finished the opening race at Kyalami in fourth position despite a spin with 6 laps to go. He had qualified in 13th place, was kind to his tyres during the race so he did not need a pitstop. Both cars were out in the rain in Brasil. Barbazza usually qualified at the back of the grid, his race pace was astonishing and he put the Minardi on a sixth position in the next two races at Donington and Imola. Fittipaldi had a DNF at Donington and was out of the points at Imola and in Spain. He added two further points at Monaco by coming in fifth, ahead of Martin Brundle in the Ligier and Michael Andretti in the McLaren. After that he was ninth in Canada and eight at Magny Cours.
Barbazza was on P11 at Monaco but was out of the race in Canada and France. Because his sponsor money dried up, he was replaced by Pierluigi Martini, Minardi’s most loyal driver. In the practice session for the British GP, he crashed and damaged his ribs, injuries that affected him for the next three races. The lack of power was reflected in England and at the Hockenheim ring as both cars were outside the top 10. The M193 was good at the Hungaroring. Minardi was P06 when he spun out on lap 60 and Fittipaldi was P09 when he was hit by Alesi’s Ferrari.
The Italian Grand Prix of 1993 saw the team's most spectacular crash. Just a few hundred metres towards the finish line, both drivers were disputing P07. Fittipaldi's front wheel clipped Martini's rear right wheel. Due to the high speeds of the Monza home straight, Fittipaldi's car was launched into the air, made a full 360 degrees backward flip and landed on all four tyres, skidding across the line to finish. Whether Fittipaldi was trying to overtake his teammate or whether Martini made an unpredictable move is still not clear until this day. Without any stop, both cars finished eighth and ninth in Portugal.
Budget was a problem, so Fitipaldi was replaced by Jean-Marc Gounon with sponsorship from the Ardeche region and the government for the last two races. However, coming from the F3000, he lacked the fitness and the speed. In Japan, he crashed into de Cesaris in the opening lap and in Australia, after multiple spins in practice, he sun himself out of the race. Martini was tenth in Japan and had a gearbox failure in Australia.
At the end of 16 Grands Prix Minardi had conquered 7 points which were worth eighth place in the Constructors’ ladder (out of 13 teams). Gian Carlo had top level technical and sporting staff but the economic side was always a concern. At the end of the season Minardi sold two thirds of the team to Beppe Lucchini giving form to the Minardi-Scuderia Italia with Gian Carlo Minardi keeping his role as President and C.E.O., together with engineer Gianpaolo Stanzani.
