From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Minardi is a automobile racing team, founded in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi, that has competed in the Formula One World Championship since 1985, though with negligible success. Despite this, they have a small but loyal following of fans.
Since they've started racing in F1, the team has scored all of 30 championship points (under the modern points system this number would almost quadruple), over half of them by the team's first driver, Pierluigi Martini. Martini also has the team's only front row start and actually led a lap during a race in 1989. In spite of this, the team has never been on a podium in it's history, only managing a best place of 4th three times, Martini two times in 1991 and Christian Fittipaldi in 1993.
The team, near collapse, was purchased by Australian-born businessman Paul Stoddart in early 2002, who managed to keep the team together through the season.
Minardi is scheduled to be represented in 2004 by two rookies, Italian Gianmaria "Jimmy" Bruni and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner. During the year, they will be celebrating their 20th season in F1, a remarkable achievement considering their success.
Despite their reputation as a backmarking team, they have managed to have more than a handful of future stars race for them. Most recently, Jaguar driver Mark Webber and Renault star Fernando Alonso have used the team as a stepping stone for their future success.
