Formula 1

Italian GP: Minardi Saturday qualifying notes

After making smooth progress yesterday in their preparations for the Italian Grand Prix, Minardi Cosworth staff today experienced a decidedly more problematic set of circumstances. Both Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner continued to work on ...

Published: Sep 12, 2004, 10:02 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

After making smooth progress yesterday in their preparations for the Italian Grand Prix, Minardi Cosworth staff today experienced a decidedly more problematic set of circumstances. Both Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner continued to work on developing a suitable chassis balance for the high-speed, low-downforce requirements of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

Unfortunately, on his first lap out of the garage at the beginning of the second practice session of the morning, Baumgartner's car was hit by Giorgio Pantano's spinning Jordan as he turned into the Prima Variante. Luckily, the young Hungarian driver emerged unscathed from the heavy impact, but the tub of his Minardi Cosworth PS04B was seriously damaged.

In the intervening two hours between the end of the session and pre-qualifying, there was intense activity in the Minardi garage as mechanics and technicians prepared the spare car for Baumgartner to use in qualifying and completely dismantled the damaged chassis in readiness for building up a replacement.

Impressively, all tasks were completed in time, and Bruni and Baumgartner went on to qualify 19th and 20th for tomorrow's final European round of the 2004 Formula One World Championship.

Zsolt Baumgartner:

"The accident this morning was very unfortunate, and I was lucky, as the speed differential between my car and the car that hit me was much higher than at Spa two weeks ago. As for my qualifying run, I locked the brakes up going into the first chicane and slid across the first part of it, losing time in the process. Otherwise, the rest of the lap was better than on the previous run. In any event, I am happy with qualifying today and with the fact I didn't suffer any injuries in the accident."

Gianmaria Bruni:

"My qualifying lap was good and the car felt fine considering the strategy we have adopted for tomorrow, when it may well rain. I didn't make any obvious mistakes on my flying lap and the time was quite good, so I'm very happy with the work we've done today."

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth:

"It hasn't been the greatest of days for the Minardi team. Two race weekends in succession, Zsolt was been taken out as a result of someone else's problems. This time, although the accident didn't look as dramatic as the one at Spa, the damage was far more serious, resulting in the total loss of the chassis."

"That's racing, however, and all in all, the team did well to get Zsolt settled in the spare car for qualifying. As for Gimmi, he's had a solid debut at his 'home' Grand Prix. Also on the positive side, it's good to see the encouraging lap times that have been set in preparation for tomorrow's race."

Zsolt Baumgartner
Chassis: switched from PS04B/01 (No.21) to PS04B/03 (spare)
Best lap: 1 min 24.808 secs
Position: 19th

Gianmaria Bruni
Chassis: PS04B/02 (No.20)
Best lap: 1 min 24.940 secs
Position: 20th

New spare chassis: PS04B/04

-minardi-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Italian GP: BAR Saturday qualifying notes

Next article Barrichello puts Ferrari on pole for Italian GP

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 32 min

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 1 h

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

4 h

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

Feature

Discover prime content

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Ronald Vording

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts