The final months of 1993 were very important for two Italian teams, both struggling not only with poor results but also with serious financial difficulties. These were Scuderia Italia, owned by Giuseppe Lucchini, and the Minardi Team, led by Giancarlo Minardi. After long months of negotiations that began around mid-1993, the two Italian entrepreneurs reached an agreement to merge their efforts into a single team, which took the name Team Minardi Scuderia Italia. Lucchini, the owner of the former Brescia-based team, acquired two-thirds of Minardi’s share capital and committed to financing the Faenza team for two years as the main sponsor. Giancarlo Minardi was thus able to continue his career in the top-tier series while also retaining the roles of President and CEO of the newly formed team.
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| MINARDI M194, Michele Alboreto Adelaide, Australian GP 1994 |
The new team had a top-tier technical and sporting staff, with former Minardi members Aldo Costa and Rene Hilhorst continuing in their roles as Technical Director and Chief Aerodynamics Engineer. As for the drivers, the best of both previous lineups were retained, with Italians Pierluigi Martini and Michele Alboreto confirmed as the starting drivers. Unfortunately, even though the new team managed to scrape together a budget of 30 billion lire (at the time), the debts accumulated by both teams with engine suppliers Ferrari and Lamborghini, as well as with chassis supplier Lola, meant that financial concerns remained. These difficulties, along with the protracted merger negotiations, significantly delayed the development of the new car. As a result, Costa and Hilhorst resorted to using the M193 from the previous season, originally designed by Gustav Brunner (who had since moved to Ferrari), reworking and adapting it to meet the new technical regulations.
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| MINARDI M193B, Pierluigi Martini Interlagos, Brazilian GP 1994 |
While awaiting the new car, the M193B was used by both drivers in the first five races of the season and achieved unexpected results: Alboreto finished sixth in Monaco, and Martini secured fifth place in Spain, despite the car being heavily penalized by the fifth-generation V8 Ford-Cosworth HB engine. This engine, already used in the 1993 M193, was significantly less powerful than the more updated versions available to competing teams.
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| MINARDI M194, Pierluigi Martini Montréal, Canadian GP 1994 |
By mid-June, at the sixth race of the season in Canada, the new M194 was ready. However, despite the delayed launch, it didn’t feature many innovations compared to the previous model, only slightly shorter side pods and a more linear engine cover design toward the rear. Costa and Hilhorst were severely limited by the team’s minimal financial resources and did their best to provide the two drivers with the best materials available for the small team. Despite these challenges, Martini managed to score another fifth place at the Magny-Cours circuit after starting from sixteenth on the grid. Alboreto, on the other hand, could do no better than seventh in Hungary, where, notably, a new X-Trac six-speed semi-automatic gearbox was mounted on his car for the first time, later also used on Martini’s car.
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| MINARDI M194, Michele Alboreto Jerez, European GP |
Besides the 2 points scored in France, the M194 did not earn any more points in 1994. However, combined with the 3 points achieved by the M193B in the early races of the season, they allowed Minardi Scuderia Italia to secure tenth place in the constructors' standings. It is also worth noting that during the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28, 1994, at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the Minardi team celebrated its 150th Formula 1 Grand Prix, a remarkable milestone for the tiny Faenza-based team, which had been in the top-tier series since 1985, during a period in which many other teams had attempted to enter Formula 1 but later disappeared.
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