Gian Carlo Minardi kept his driver Pierluigi Martini and got former reserve driver Paolo Barilla as his new teammate. He also kept the Mader Ford Cosworth DFV and dropped the idea of using Carlo Chiti’s bulky flat 12 Subaru engine. The first two races, the team used the M189B with a revised front suspension. After that, the M190 came on the scene. The M 190 had a gentle sloping chassis profile beneath the nose section, in style of the Tyrrell 018, totally new bodywork and wings including a lighter, stiffer gearbox casing incorporated. Designers were Aldo Costa, Rene Hilhorst for the aerodynamics and Vincenzo Emiliani. Pirelli tyres were used.
The year started great in Phoenix with a Martini on the front starting row. After a poor start, he faded to P07. In Brazil, he ended P09 with breaking problems. Barilla struggled and retired in both races.
The new M190 was not great. The car lacked straight line speed and showed massive understeer. In Imola, Martini could not start the race after a massive shunt in practice. Barilla ended on P11.In Monaco both cars retired. After that, Barilla was unable to qualify the car for 6 F1 races. His best results was a P12 at Silverstone. Martini had to retire the car in five races due to technical failures and three times he lost the car in a spin or an accident (Hit by Aguri Suzuki at the start of the Canadian GP and by Jean Alesi in Hungary). His best results were in the last two races of the year: a P08 at Suzuka end a P09 in Australia. For these races, Barilla was replaced by Gianni Morbidelli. He spun in Japan and had a gearbox failure in Australia.
Again a no -point scoring season.
Minardi got the supply of Ferrari V12 engines for 1991. Ferrari had never before supplied another team. Gian Carlo had hoped that the Japenese firm Pioneer would supply the necessary money. He informed Maranello. The result was that all sponormoney went into Ferrari pockets! Bad start. Gian Carlo did not know how to finance the engines. And he got first old V12 enines from 1989.Later in the season, newer engines would arrive.
The new car M191 was designed by Aldo Costa, Gabriele Tredozi and Rene Hilhorst again. The car featured a Tyrrell-inspired step under the nose and showed long tapered sidepods with air exits at the side and at the rear. The V12 was driven through a longitudinal six-speed gearbox. The season got off well, but there were financial problems in Faenza. Added to that, during the season, there were continous problems with the linkage of the Ferrrari engine to the clutch and hence the gearbox. Minardi cars did nothave the semi-automatic gearbox that Ferrari used in 1989. And Minardi had switched from Pirelli to Goodyear tyres.
The M191 cars had problems in the first two races of the season. An engine failure with five laps to go derived Martini of a P05. With newer engines, aerodynamic changes and a new suspension, the team had a great race at Imola. Martini and Morbidelli qualified in the top ten and Minardi raced to a P04! In Monaco, Morbidelli had gearbocx issues and Minardi was the first driver to get the new FISA ten-second-stop-and-go for impeding Stefano Modena. Pierluigi was seventh in Canada and Gianni in Mexico. From Magny Cours onwards, the car had a new aerodynamic undertray with considerable progress, giving Minardi a P09 in France and at Silverstone. New engine upgrades from Germany on saw an improvement in qualifying, but race results remained poor. A good weekend again in Portugal with Minardi ending on P04 and Morbidelli was on P06 before dropping back. Both teammates collided in a disappointing Spanish GP and retired in Japan. Morbidelli had to replace Alain Prost at Ferrari, so for the last race of the year came Roberto Moreno. It rained heavily and Martini crashed leading to a red flag.
The team had scored points this year and was seventh in the championship. But … where can Minardi find some cash ?
The Ferrari engine deal(first deal was for 3 years)was off to the Scuderia Italia from Beppe Lucchini, so the V12 from Lamborghini Engineering came onboard. Martini followed the Ferrari engine. Gianni Morbidelli stayed and F3000 champion Christian Fittipaldi signed also. Former Fittipaldi designer Richard Divila became Morbidelli’s race engineer and Fittipaldi got Gabriele Tredozi.
For the first four races, the 1991 chassis was adapted to accept the engine and the transverse gearbox was used. Both drivers qualified well, but only two times they reached the finish line: Morbidelli P07 in Brazil and Fittipaldi P11 in Barcelona.
The M192 chassis designed by Aldo Costa and René Hilhorst was ready for Imola. It was a stiffer monocoque with externally mounted front dampers, so better access and adjustment possibilities. Front and rear suspensions were conventional pushrod configuration.The car had also the raised nose. During the year many adjustments were made in order to improve aerodynamics, because windtunnel data seemed not accurate. Tyres: goodyear
Both cars had transmission failures at Imola, but in Monaco Fittipaldi was eight. Both were classified in Canada and Morbidelli was P08 in Magny Cours. In qualifying, Fittipaldi had a crash with Alboreto and came out of the wreckage with a fractured vertebra. He had to miss three races, so in came Alex Zanardi. He did not qualify in Silverstone and at the Hungaroring and was out after 1 lap in Hockenheim. The summer was a miserable time for Minardi. Both cars were non-qualified at the Hungaroring, but also in Spa and Monza the returning Fittipaldi could not make it to the start
The team got Gustave Brunner on board. He redesigned the nose section. Lambo came with an engine update. Qualifying times in Monza were good for a P12 on the grid for Morbidelli and in the race at Estoril both cars saw the finish line again. In Suzuka, Fittipaldi had a good race, battling with Jean Alesi and Stefano Modena to sixth place, his first championship point and a point in the constructors championship. In Australia, both drivers finished, P09 Fittipaldi, P10 Morbidelli.
Read on : 1993
