Minardi PS04B

Minardi PS04B

On the way to a World Championship point: Zsolt Baumgartner in the Minardi PS04B at the 2004 US Grand Prix.
Constructor:	Minardi
Predecessor:	Minardi PS03
Successor:	Minardi PS05
Technical specifications
Tires:	Bridgestone
Petrol:	Eleven
statistics
Driver:	Gianmaria Bruni Zsolt Baumgartner Christijan Albers Patrick Friesacher
First start:	2004 Australian Grand Prix
Last start:	2005 Bahrain Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 21st - - -
World Cup points:	1
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-
Status: end of season 2005

The Minardi PS04B was a Formula 1 - racing cars of the Italian team Minardi , who in the Formula 1 World Championship in 2004 and in some races of the 2005 season was used. Technically it is closely related to the Minardi PS03 from 2003 ; there is no relationship to the Minardi PS04 tested in 2003, regardless of the similarities in the nomenclature.

background

The Minardi racing team, which has been involved in Formula 1 since 1985 , has been in a serious financial crisis since the mid-1990s. The takeover of the team by the Australian businessman Paul Stoddart in 2001 hadn't changed that; Stoddart had not succeeded in providing the team financially in such a way that it was able to develop competitive racing cars independently.

In the search for cost-effective improvements, Stoddart acquired five Arrows A23 vehicles in the early summer of 2003 , which had been used by the British racing team Arrows in some Formula 1 world championship races the year before . The A23 vehicles were given the designation Minardi PS04. Stoddart initially considered launching the Arrows A23 under the Minardi name in the 2004 season. However, a series of test drives showed that the Arrows vehicles were not significantly more powerful than the old Minardi designs under the changed conditions of the new regulations. The team then gave up the PS04 project. Instead, a stand-alone car was developed for the 2004 season, named PS04B, which had nothing to do with the Arrows A23.

Technology of the Minardi PS04B

The Minardi PS04B was - like its predecessors PS02 and PS03 - a further development of the Minardi PS01 , which Gustav Brunner had designed in winter 2000/2001 under difficult economic conditions. The responsible designer of the PS04B was Gabriele Tredozi . Minardi still used the monocoque of the PS01 for the PS04B; it differed from its immediate predecessors primarily through a revised aerodynamic shape. When the PS04B was last used in Bahrain , one of the two chassis had now driven 54 races, making it the most frequently used chassis in Formula 1 history. The engine used was the ten-cylinder Cosworth CR3-L, dating back to 2001 , which Minardi had prepared in-house. This engine was first used in 2001 by Jaguar Racing .

At the beginning of the 2005 season, the PS04B underwent a few aerodynamic modifications that were due to a change in the regulations. The implementation of these modifications had previously been the subject of a civil dispute.

Races

The Minardi PS04B was considered the weakest vehicle of 2004 and 2005. The team contested the entire 2004 Formula 1 season and the first three races of the 2005 season with it. Drivers were Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner (2004) and Patrick Friesacher, respectively and Christijan Albers (2005). In 21 races, the team scored a world championship point with the PS04B through Baumgartner, who finished eighth in the 2004 US Grand Prix.

At the beginning of the so-called European season, the PS04B was replaced by the completely redesigned Minardi PS05 .

Further use of the chassis

In the BOSS GP racing series , a PS04B has been registered for the current 2018 season, driven by Frits van Eerd from the Netherlands . This racing series includes two Scuderia Toro Rosso STR1s , two Benetton B197s , an Arrows A22 and a Super Aguri SA06 .

Results

2004

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	Points	rank
Formula 1 World Championship 2004																				1	10.
G. Bruni	20th	DNF	14th	17th	DNF	DNF	DNF	14th	DNF	DNF	18th	16	17th	14th	DNF	DNF	DNF	16	17th
Z. Baumgartner	21st	DNF	16	DNF	15th	DNF	9	15th	10	8th	DNF	DNF	16	15th	DNF	15th	16	DNF	16

2005

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	Points	rank
Formula 1 World Championship 2005																				0	10.
P. Friesacher	20th	17th	DNF	12
C. Albers	21st	DNF	13	13

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Web links

Commons : Minardi PS04B  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A few years later, Stoddart, who worked in the aviation sector, attributed this to an economic crisis that occurred after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and had a lasting impact on the airlines' profits. See Motorsport aktuell, issue 44/2005, p. 14
2. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 1–3 / 2004, p. 4
3. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 15/2005, p. 18
4. ↑ See Motorsport aktuell, issue 38/2004, p. 18
5. ↑ To the whole: Motorsport aktuell, issue 9/2005, p. 4 and issue 11/2005, p. 19.
6. ↑ Minardi drove a total of seven championship points in the 2005 season. They were only achieved with the successor to the PS04B, the Minardi PS05.