Revision [175]
Last edited on 2009-11-27 18:41:49 by StanBAdditions:
The 2004 season marked another year of [[Ferrari]] dominance with champion Michael Schumacher taking his seventh title in resounding fashion. Neither a daring aerodynamic concept by BMW-Williams nor the fact that Kimi Raikkonen was tipped by many F1 pundits to be the one to push Schumacher off the throne prevented the prancing horses from Maranello from staging a complete walkover. Michael Schumacher won 13 out of 18 races, securing his title as early as Spa, with 5 races to go.
On the back end of the grid things were not much more exciting. The Minardi team turned up with an evolution of the 2003 car, the [[PS04]]. The car was described by the team itself as looking "outwardly similar to last season's [[PS03]], which is unsurprising given the current stability of Formula One technical regulations" and notwithstanding small changes to aerodynamic parts of the car (especially floor, diffuser and front wing, as well as the required alterations to the engine cover and rear wing) it was quite obvious that it would become another difficult season for the Faenza based squad.
In terms of power the team used the same 72-degree, [[Cosworth]] CR3 V10 in LD (long-distance) specification to comply with 2004 regulations. In a nutshell: Not the package that would compete for the 2004 World Championship.
Behind the wheel 2004 again saw a complete change as both [[WilsonJustin Justin Wilson]] and [[VerstappenJos Jos Verstappen]] decided to try their luck elsewhere. Roman driver [[BruniGianmaria Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni]] and Hungarian [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt Baumgartner]] took over, facing the hard challenge to impress in a car that from day one had no peer on the F1 grid. Even the Jordans of Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano were at times more than a second ahead of the Minardis.
To make matters worse for the team, on the 9th of July, its Sporting Director John Walton succumbed to a heart attack he had suffered two days before in London while Minardi was showing off its F1x2 cars during the F1 event on Regent Street.
In honour of its late team member, Minardi decided to remove all sponsor logos from the car for the British GP and replace them with the words "John Boy". This sparked a major row with Minardi's main sponsor Wilux which had been selling on its advertising space to other companies. Wilux, a leftover from the consortium that had backed Dutch driver [[VerstappenJos Jos Verstappen]] in 2003, and Minardi mutually decided to terminate the contract and the advertising space on the side pods was passed on to [[StoddartPaul Paul Stoddart]]'s fledgling airline OZJET and Swiss company CONNECT.
Nevertheless there were positive sides to 2004 as well. Most notably [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt Baumgartner]], coming in 8th at Indianapolis, sent Minardi fans around the world jumping with joy. His ability to keep the car going in a race that saw many others drop out, gave Minardi its first point since [[WebberMark Mark Webber]]'s heroic drive at Albert Park in 2002. In addition to that, the Minardi team was able to draw attention to itself when the F1x2 team took passengers for a ride in South Africa, Switzerland and at the Regent Street F1 event in London.
Both drivers finished the race with [[BruniGianmaria Gimmi]] coming in 14th, 3 laps down on Michael Schumacher and [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt]] finishing 16th, 4 laps down. Juan Pablo Montoya got the second place and Jenson Button started a positive string of results for the arguably most improved team of the season (BAR) by grabbing third place.
In the aftermath of the 2004 season many young drivers tested for the Minardi team at various occasions (among them [[AlbersChristijan Christijan Albers]], Will Power and young Venezuelan, Pastor Maldonado). [[StoddartPaul Paul Stoddart]] continued to be the most outspoken critic of the current structure of F1 and the team vowed to build a completely new car in time for the first GP of the 2005 at Albert Park, Melbourne.
On the back end of the grid things were not much more exciting. The Minardi team turned up with an evolution of the 2003 car, the [[PS04]]. The car was described by the team itself as looking "outwardly similar to last season's [[PS03]], which is unsurprising given the current stability of Formula One technical regulations" and notwithstanding small changes to aerodynamic parts of the car (especially floor, diffuser and front wing, as well as the required alterations to the engine cover and rear wing) it was quite obvious that it would become another difficult season for the Faenza based squad.
In terms of power the team used the same 72-degree, [[Cosworth]] CR3 V10 in LD (long-distance) specification to comply with 2004 regulations. In a nutshell: Not the package that would compete for the 2004 World Championship.
Behind the wheel 2004 again saw a complete change as both [[WilsonJustin Justin Wilson]] and [[VerstappenJos Jos Verstappen]] decided to try their luck elsewhere. Roman driver [[BruniGianmaria Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni]] and Hungarian [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt Baumgartner]] took over, facing the hard challenge to impress in a car that from day one had no peer on the F1 grid. Even the Jordans of Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano were at times more than a second ahead of the Minardis.
To make matters worse for the team, on the 9th of July, its Sporting Director John Walton succumbed to a heart attack he had suffered two days before in London while Minardi was showing off its F1x2 cars during the F1 event on Regent Street.
In honour of its late team member, Minardi decided to remove all sponsor logos from the car for the British GP and replace them with the words "John Boy". This sparked a major row with Minardi's main sponsor Wilux which had been selling on its advertising space to other companies. Wilux, a leftover from the consortium that had backed Dutch driver [[VerstappenJos Jos Verstappen]] in 2003, and Minardi mutually decided to terminate the contract and the advertising space on the side pods was passed on to [[StoddartPaul Paul Stoddart]]'s fledgling airline OZJET and Swiss company CONNECT.
Nevertheless there were positive sides to 2004 as well. Most notably [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt Baumgartner]], coming in 8th at Indianapolis, sent Minardi fans around the world jumping with joy. His ability to keep the car going in a race that saw many others drop out, gave Minardi its first point since [[WebberMark Mark Webber]]'s heroic drive at Albert Park in 2002. In addition to that, the Minardi team was able to draw attention to itself when the F1x2 team took passengers for a ride in South Africa, Switzerland and at the Regent Street F1 event in London.
Both drivers finished the race with [[BruniGianmaria Gimmi]] coming in 14th, 3 laps down on Michael Schumacher and [[BaumgartnerZsolt Zsolt]] finishing 16th, 4 laps down. Juan Pablo Montoya got the second place and Jenson Button started a positive string of results for the arguably most improved team of the season (BAR) by grabbing third place.
In the aftermath of the 2004 season many young drivers tested for the Minardi team at various occasions (among them [[AlbersChristijan Christijan Albers]], Will Power and young Venezuelan, Pastor Maldonado). [[StoddartPaul Paul Stoddart]] continued to be the most outspoken critic of the current structure of F1 and the team vowed to build a completely new car in time for the first GP of the 2005 at Albert Park, Melbourne.
Deletions:
On the back end of the grid things were not much more exciting. The Minardi team turned up with an evolution of the 2003 car, the PS04. The car was described by the team itself as looking "outwardly similar to last season's PS03, which is unsurprising given the current stability of Formula One technical regulations" and notwithstanding small changes to aerodynamic parts of the car (especially floor, diffuser and front wing, as well as the required alterations to the engine cover and rear wing) it was quite obvious that it would become another difficult season for the Faenza based squad.
In terms of power the team used the same 72-degree, Cosworth CR3 V10 in LD (long-distance) specification to comply with 2004 regulations. In a nutshell: Not the package that would compete for the 2004 World Championship.
Behind the wheel 2004 again saw a complete change as both Justin Wilson and Jos Verstappen decided to try their luck elsewhere. Roman driver Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner took over, facing the hard challenge to impress in a car that from day one had no peer on the F1 grid. Even the Jordans of Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano were at times more than a second ahead of the Minardis.
To make matters worse for the team, on the 9th of July, its Sporting Director John Walton succumbed to a heart attack he had suffered two days before in London while Minardi was showing off its F1x2 cars during the F1 event on Regent Street.
In honour of its late team member, Minardi decided to remove all sponsor logos from the car for the British GP and replace them with the words "John Boy". This sparked a major row with Minardi's main sponsor Wilux which had been selling on its advertising space to other companies. Wilux, a leftover from the consortium that had backed Dutch driver Jos Verstappen in 2003, and Minardi mutually decided to terminate the contract and the advertising space on the side pods was passed on to Paul Stoddart's fledgling airline OZJET and Swiss company CONNECT.
Nevertheless there were positive sides to 2004 as well. Most notably Zsolt Baumgartner, coming in 8th at Indianapolis, sent Minardi fans around the world jumping with joy. His ability to keep the car going in a race that saw many others drop out, gave Minardi its first point since Mark Webber's heroic drive at Albert Park in 2002.
In addition to that, the Minardi team was able to draw attention to itself when the F1x2 team took passengers for a ride in South Africa, Switzerland and at the Regent Street F1 event in London.
Both drivers finished the race with Gimmi coming in 14th, 3 laps down on Michael Schumacher and Zsolt finishing 16th, 4 laps down. Juan Pablo Montoya got the second place and Jenson Button started a positive string of results for the arguably most improved team of the season (BAR) by grabbing third place.
In the aftermath of the 2004 season many young drivers tested for the Minardi team at various occasions (among them Christijan Albers, Will Power and young Venezuelan, Pastor Maldonado). Paul Stoddart continued to be the most outspoken critic of the current structure of F1 and the team vowed to build a completely new car in time for the first GP of the 2005 at Albert Park, Melbourne.
