Cosworth V10s for Minardi in 2001

[Minardi fan]

A new buyer has apparently stepped forward, willing to buy out the team's chief shareholder Rumi. This buyer, the American Tony Johnson and his company, have already negotiated a deal for Ford to supply Minardi with this year's Cosworth V10, as used by Jaguar.

Good news or bad? Or should Minardi hold out for Supertecs or Ferrari engines????

[Toth]

Not very good I fear. This years supertec or ferrari look better than this years cosworth/ford/jaguar. To bad they can't get Ferrari engines, they're the most reliable so far I guess.

[Neil C]

...but it's an improvement over what they have now. I think its good news for Minardi.

[Mr.S]

Good news or bad, three to four year old engine or this years engine? I will enjoy watching them against Jaguar!
Just to bad Ferrari went back with Sauber.

[Tristan]

Mr S, it looks like you have potential to be a true "Minardinho"!!! This year's Cossies, with a bit of tweaking re: reliability over the winter, SHOULD actually a good thing. It's a shame the Ferrari deal didn't work, but I've got a feeling that, with Renault in F1 next year, the amount of development and funding available for a Supetec would be minimal. In fact, the engines may be pulled all together for next year. In all, a good thing, me thinks.

[Sharky]

Well....this year's cosworth engines suck. They have terrible reliability...but I think that if it is a long term contract then it could be a good thing for Minardi as the CW engine MUST evolve in the next years. But....I don't think that there will be a huge performance increase because the CW engine is not as powerful....therefore one can expect Sauber (for example) to outperform Minardi....at least in the engine department

[Minardi fan]

I think it will be a step up. After all, the problems Jaguar are having are not from the engine itself, but from the oil feeds or whatever. Plus one year old/potential points scorer is better than 2 years old/hopeless in the first place.

Don't give up on the Ferrari thing!!! It could still happen.

[Sharky]

Well. I Also hope that Minardi get the Ferrari engine. It would be a whole deal better than the Cosworth unit. Keep praying and maybe your dream will come true MF!

[MichaelC]

Minardi aren't going to get the Ferarri engine. They'll be running a rebadged Cosworth, or perhaps some form of Peugeot or Pug-based unit.

Why? Sauber's chassis is poor. Even with a decent engine they couldn't challenge for top3 in a race. We seem to be agreed that Minardi have a decent chassis, so coupled with a decent engine, they could start to become something of a challenge. They aren't going to start winning races overnight, but they could run happily in the top 6 with a second decent driver. Ferarri only need to lose another wheel during a pitstop, and a works car might get beaten by a customer car - a potential disaster. Therefore they'll supply a team with a reasonable lump of cash - and Sauber are a lot better off than Minardi are (but then so am I!!) and will be forever a midfield team, scoring points now and then.

[Minardi fan]

Looks like the Peugeot/ATM thing is now the most likely... We'll know by Sunday.