The Faenza-based Formula 1 team today called AlphaTauri started life as Minardi, an underdog effort run on a fraction of its rivals’ budgets that gave opportunities to several future stars.
Giancarlo Minardi’s eponymous squad was a fixture on the grid between 1985 and 2005, when it was sold to Dietrich Mateschitz and rebranded as Toro Rosso for 2006.
Minardi will shortly be usurped by Red Bull for ninth spot in the list for world championship F1 starts, but it comfortably outlasted many of its contemporaries despite meagre funds, which contributed to its modest tally of 38 points from 340 races.
In that time 37 drivers passed through its doors and while some were signed as a matter of financial necessity many were real prospects, with five going on to win in F1 and one becoming a double world champion.
In the latest of Autosport’s ‘Top 10 drivers’ series, we’ve attempted to rank Minardi’s alumni based on the success they enjoyed with the team, the impact they had on Minardi and their achievement given the machinery at their disposal. Achievement before or afterwards is not considered.
Because chaotic circumstances were often required for Minardi to finish in the points, it would be unfair to write off drivers who didn’t score at the expense of those who did due to freak events. Qualifying performance relative to team-mates is therefore taken into account.
10. Justin Wilson
Wilson’s opening lap prowess took Minardi to unfamiliar heights and helped him earn a mid-season move to Jaguar
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Starts: 11
Points: 0
Best finish: 11th (2003 Spanish GP)
Best grid: 18th (2003 San Marino, Spanish, Austrian, Canadian, British GPs)
Qualifying average: 18.8
Team-mate record: 4/7 (36.4%)
Wilson formed one half of what then-Minardi boss Paul Stoddart described as “the best driver line-up Minardi has ever had” in 2003 with Jos Verstappen. The 2001 International Formula 3000 champion was outqualified by Verstappen, but earned a mid-season promotion to Jaguar, having cultivated a reputation for remarkable opening laps.
Granted, it’s easier to make up positions when you’re at the back of the grid. But the Cosworth-powered PS03 was never likely to be anything other than tail-end fodder – on supertimes, it was 4.308% off the pace, the slowest in the field that year and 2.111% adrift of the next-slowest, Jordan.
Wilson’s most impressive opening laps came when he capitalised on slick conditions in…
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