- 29 Sep 13, 08:09#374829
With the recent talk coming from Giancarlo Minardi about whether or not the current (2013) Red Bull has traction control, across multiple forums and motorsport media I have seen polarising discussion, yet many dismissive comments about Minardi himself. Many are saying 'what would he know - he was a failure in F1, his team were rubbish' etc. etc.
My pet peeve is that often people when making these comments only look to one things - points scoring. I have never been one to do this, and prefer to put things into a more all round context. If you look at Minardi's points scoring record - in 21 seasons of F1, they only scored a total of 38 points - an average of just 1.8 points a season. This sounds woeful on the face of it.
However, I pose the question: If you were to look at F1 over the past 5 years, would you call Force India, Sauber or Toro Rosso failures? You might, but I believe that most observers would view them as solid mid-grid outfits. And I would argue that this is EXACTLY how Minardi should be viewed in a historical context. In fact, given that the Minardi budget was substantially lower in inflation adjusted terms compared to those current teams, it is actually arguable that Minardi's achievements outshone any of those names.
The evidence? Simple - look to how Minardi would have done under the current points system, had that been in operation when Minardi were. In reality, Minardi cars were often finishing just a position or two below the points places, whether it was finishing in 7th or 8th when points only went to 6th, or finishing 9th or 10th when points only went to 8th. And not forgetting, many of these seasons where they were finishing 7th - 10th, especially in the late 80's, were when there were more cars on the grid than there are today. So below, I have Minardi's complete season overall points in brackets, followed by the amount of points they would have had under the 2013 points sysem.
1985 - (0 actual points scored) - 4 points had the 25-1 points system been in place
1986 - (0) - 4
1987 - (0) - 0
1988 - (1) - 19
1989 - (6) - 50
1990 - (0) - 14
1991 - (6) - 50
1992 - (1) - 25
1993 - (7) - 69
1994 - (5) - 49
1995 - (1) - 36
1996 - (0) - 9
1997 - (0) - 7
1998 - (0) - 20
1999 - (1) - 27
2000 - (0) - 16
2001 - (0) - 5
2002 - (2) - 22
2003 - (0) - 3
2004 - (1) - 7
2005 - (7) - 18
Total - (38 points actually scored) - 454 points had the 25-1 points system been in place
So in summary, whilst in reality, Minardi only scored an average of 1.8 points per season under the points system at the time, had they been racing in 2013, they would have been scoring an average of 21.6 points per season - certainly not world beaters, but well ahead of the likes of Caterham and Marussia, currently ahead of Williams, and more comparable to Toro Rosso.
In reality, in 21 seasons, Minardi had 10 non-scoring years, however had points been given down to 10th place, they would only have had ONE non-scoring season, and this was in their very early existence, so entirely forgivable.
In my opinion, regardless of the points actually scored, if you just look to the positions (finishing often between 6th and 10th, with the odd 4th or 5th place thrown in over the years), Minardi in fact (and I do mean fact in a literal sense) overachieved for the majority of their existence, and were a substantially better team than many currently ignorant people are giving them credit for.
My pet peeve is that often people when making these comments only look to one things - points scoring. I have never been one to do this, and prefer to put things into a more all round context. If you look at Minardi's points scoring record - in 21 seasons of F1, they only scored a total of 38 points - an average of just 1.8 points a season. This sounds woeful on the face of it.
However, I pose the question: If you were to look at F1 over the past 5 years, would you call Force India, Sauber or Toro Rosso failures? You might, but I believe that most observers would view them as solid mid-grid outfits. And I would argue that this is EXACTLY how Minardi should be viewed in a historical context. In fact, given that the Minardi budget was substantially lower in inflation adjusted terms compared to those current teams, it is actually arguable that Minardi's achievements outshone any of those names.
The evidence? Simple - look to how Minardi would have done under the current points system, had that been in operation when Minardi were. In reality, Minardi cars were often finishing just a position or two below the points places, whether it was finishing in 7th or 8th when points only went to 6th, or finishing 9th or 10th when points only went to 8th. And not forgetting, many of these seasons where they were finishing 7th - 10th, especially in the late 80's, were when there were more cars on the grid than there are today. So below, I have Minardi's complete season overall points in brackets, followed by the amount of points they would have had under the 2013 points sysem.
1985 - (0 actual points scored) - 4 points had the 25-1 points system been in place
1986 - (0) - 4
1987 - (0) - 0
1988 - (1) - 19
1989 - (6) - 50
1990 - (0) - 14
1991 - (6) - 50
1992 - (1) - 25
1993 - (7) - 69
1994 - (5) - 49
1995 - (1) - 36
1996 - (0) - 9
1997 - (0) - 7
1998 - (0) - 20
1999 - (1) - 27
2000 - (0) - 16
2001 - (0) - 5
2002 - (2) - 22
2003 - (0) - 3
2004 - (1) - 7
2005 - (7) - 18
Total - (38 points actually scored) - 454 points had the 25-1 points system been in place
So in summary, whilst in reality, Minardi only scored an average of 1.8 points per season under the points system at the time, had they been racing in 2013, they would have been scoring an average of 21.6 points per season - certainly not world beaters, but well ahead of the likes of Caterham and Marussia, currently ahead of Williams, and more comparable to Toro Rosso.
In reality, in 21 seasons, Minardi had 10 non-scoring years, however had points been given down to 10th place, they would only have had ONE non-scoring season, and this was in their very early existence, so entirely forgivable.
In my opinion, regardless of the points actually scored, if you just look to the positions (finishing often between 6th and 10th, with the odd 4th or 5th place thrown in over the years), Minardi in fact (and I do mean fact in a literal sense) overachieved for the majority of their existence, and were a substantially better team than many currently ignorant people are giving them credit for.
Favourite racing series: F1, Indycar, NASCAR, GP2, F3, Formula E, Trophee Andros, DTM, WTCC, BTCC, World Endurance... etc. etc.
What a memory that is! 
