Formula 1

San Marino GP: Minardi Saturday qualifying notes

It was a case of maximum effort and minimum return for Wilux Minardi Cosworth at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari today. The team's preparations for tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix continued to progress according to plan during the morning's two ...

Edited: Apr 25, 2004, 2:09 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

It was a case of maximum effort and minimum return for Wilux Minardi Cosworth at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari today. The team's preparations for tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix continued to progress according to plan during the morning's two 45-minute practice sessions.

Unfortunately, however, the second session ended on a low note when Zsolt Baumgartner lost his car over the curbs at Variante Alta on his final run of the morning and spun into the barriers. The resulting damage meant the young Hungarian had to switch to the team's spare car for official qualifying, but further bad luck ensued when his car again spun at Variante Alta, and he failed to record a time. Despite not being completely happy with the handling balance of his car, team mate, Gianmaria Bruni, pushed hard on his flying lap and qualified 17th.

Gianmaria Bruni:

"Unfortunately, we just weren't able to find a good balance for the car today, and on my flying lap, exiting the last corner, I hit the curb so hard that it knocked the steering wheel out of my hands and I accidentally hit the button for the pit-lane speed limiter. As a result, I lost over half-a-second before I could fix the problem. We'll run the new aero package tomorrow because we want to get some miles on it and develop a better understanding of how it works. It will be a tough race, but we'll see what we can do."

Zsolt Baumgartner:

"It has been quite a busy time for the team after the spin I had this morning. I have to thank the guys for the tremendous job they did changing over the spare car, which was set for Gimmi, during the lunch break. It felt different from my race car in the pre-qualifying run, but I just had to push hard for a time on the second run. Unfortunately, I made a mistake at the Variante Alta, but sometimes that happens when you are trying really hard. I am pleased, however, by the fact my first sector time on that lap was not bad. The goal is to have a consistent race tomorrow, as we did in Bahrain, and we'll just see what we can do."

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Wilux Minardi Cosworth:

"Sadly, this has been our worst qualifying performance of the year and not one of which we are proud. Zsolt spun on his final run and Gimmi accidentally engaged the pit-lane speed limiter when exiting the last corner of the circuit on his flying lap. The result is that both Minardi entries failed to demonstrate their potential. This will make tomorrow's race difficult, but it's another day, and we look forward to completing one of our home races."

GIANMARIA BRUNI
Chassis: PS04B/02 (No.20)
Best lap: 1 min 26.899 secs
Position: 17th

ZSOLT BAUMGARTNER
Chassis: PS04B/01 (No.21)
Best lap: No time
Position: 18th

-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 San Marino GP: Ferrari Saturday qualifying notes

Next article San Marino GP starting grid

Top Comments

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

View More & Comment

Latest news

LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

4 min

LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates

Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

9 min

Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

36 min

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Feature

Discover prime content

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

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