Formula 1

Minardi Magny Cours Testing Review

POSITIVE OUTCOME TO THE TESTING AT MAGNY COURS The test session which saw the Fondmetal Minardi Ford Team engaged on the Magny Cours circuit from Tuesday to today, had a positive ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

POSITIVE OUTCOME TO THE TESTING AT MAGNY COURS The test session which saw the Fondmetal Minardi Ford Team engaged on the Magny Cours circuit from Tuesday to today, had a positive outcome. Drivers, engineers and mechanics return to Italy this evening after completing a very satisfactory, if intense, work programme which focused primarily on the debut of the car with extended wheelbase (50 mm) and its set-up. This was a particularly difficult thing to accomplish on the French circuit which, with its combination of fast and slow corners, makes it hard to determine the optimum balance between traction and braking. The extensive testing conducted in the past few days by the test driver Laurent Redon (Tuesday) and by Esteban Tuero (Wednesday and Thursday) paved the way for the excellent lap times recorded today by Nakano. Nakano, who knows the track well thanks to his last years experience at Prost Team, which uses the Magny Cours circuit almost as its private track, was given the task of turning to account the groundwork done by his team mates, and therefore concentrated on lap times. Speaking about reliability, also the new mechanical solutions satisfied the technicians, even though the failure of an engine - which had ran already many kilometers - put a premature end to the day's testing. The Team deliberately committed to Tuero the first part of the work, as the testing and set up of the new solution, in order to carry on with the refines program of the young Argentinean, called, more and more frequently, to co-operate with Teams technicians. Team-mate Nakano, quite familiar with this track, as already told, thanks to last years experience, acted as litmus paper non only for car development, but for Tueros work as well, who managed to find a good set up for the longer wheelbase car on a difficult circuit such as Magny Cours. Esteban was expected to be more concentrated and steady in performing for next week race, rather than being speed. And the target was essentially hit. Nakano, on his side, was satisfied of the new cars behaviour and ensured that he will make a good race, providing that weather conditions will be similar to last days.

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 F1 Update 98-06-19

Next article Verstappen Signs with Stewart-Ford

Top Comments

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

View More & Comment

Latest news

NASCAR VP explains Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry penalties

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

2 h

NASCAR VP explains Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry penalties

Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicense quest continues

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicense quest continues

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

4 h

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

4 h

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

Feature

Discover prime content

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Lewis Hamilton needs “serious talks” with himself and his team-mate

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Stuart Codling

Lewis Hamilton needs “serious talks” with himself and his team-mate

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

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