Minardi.. Born to lose?

[Smash]

Just started my new game, and I can't get qualified at the first race.... Damn u 107% regulation

Maybe I'll play around with with the setups and try different drivers... to test if hakkinen could make a BIG difference.

Well that's my first loussy update .

[Furious]

Kepp working at it! Most important thing at Minardi has to be to survive, and then secondly to start moving up the grid bit by bit.

Good luck, you got one hell of a challenge on your hands there!

[Smash]

Hoping so..

Maybe if I save all my money for 3 years (2 years playing)(339 million)I could have all top drivers, engineers and other contracts (except fuel I guess) and 5 design studio's.

But I still don't think I would be '1' that way with everything on automatic

[punkrohan]

Um... minardi is not such a problem, here's a run down on how i got minardi not just to the top, but as much as a dominant force as ferrari was in 2002 and 2004.

The year was 2005(i did my own update based on the one released on this site)
McLaren and Renault were the only "top' teams" with ferrari, toyota, red bull, sauber, williams all being medium teams, and Minardi (ME), and jordan as "low teams". I included Jag and Midland too, cos there is a minimum number of teams, and they were low teams as well.
I started off with albers and friesacher driving, and immediately planned ahead. When i saw there was talent available, i dropped Albers and freisacher within 2 days and signed verstappen and wurz(boy im glad i did).
I started designing my own bits for the car (i remember playing it several years ago) Undertray with the most downforce i could get, cockpit to fit drivers(it has to be 40 cms longer than the height of a driver for a perfect fit) airbox and sides with enough cooling for the motor(i had a cosworth) then front wing, nose, rear wing and cowling to get and even downforce on front and rear axles. I had to wait a fair way into the season before all parts were ready, and i resisted the temptation to put on each part as it was ready, i debuted them all together, and what a difference it made. I estimate by judging the speed difference to my rivals that i improved 2 seconds a lap, but was still 1-2seconds behind the top 4 drivers montoya/raikkonen/alonso/fisi.
I did all the little hints and tips to get good sponsorship deals(wait until 9th of feb to get a paying test driver) but i was still on crappy bridgestones and had to make do with ...

Needless to say i couldnt generate the sponsorship i needed to have a healthy budget and by the end of the first year i was quite low on money and actually had a deficit. But some good results paved the way for better deals for my second year. I got the sponsors i wanted and kept verstappen and wurz who had done stellar for me in the first year.

It was then i made a big error. I signed ferrari motors "from the last season" and 5 star good year tyres "from the last season". I belive this was a mistake, and have the feeling i would have done even better if i signed a 3 star motor with up-to-date technology, and smae with the tyres. So i hope you guys learn from my mistake.

The second season was much better points wise, and the trick as ever is to have RELIABLE cars.(my reliability record was 97%!!!!!) It means nothing of you have a fast car that wont finish, and if youve played alot of this game, you'll realise that the top six qualifiers rarely ALL finish the race, so the points were on offer. So for example, i usually could qualify7th to 10th (unless i had a really good setup for a track) but i knew that i had a good chance of scoring at least 1 point each race, which was fine for me considering i was minardi. I scored a point at least at every race that year.

Then for the kick-a$$. I signed schuey who was demotivated at a 'slow ferrari season', and paired him up with Heikki Kovalainen(a rising gp2 star fyi) All my parts that i had designed in my first season now had the minimum air resistance due to all the experience i gained on them. Schuey fit into Jos's cockpit perfectly, so i didnt need to design a new one, but i had to for heikki, but he had it for the first race cos i designed it right after the last race of the second season. I was a bit lucky, because none of my parts were made illegal by the FIA.

Anyways, as for my domination, it reads something like this:
Season 2007: (my third season)
Im upto the japanese race.... Schumacher has won every race except france(he 'only' finished second there) Heikki is finding it difficult to keep up with schuey(he's only a rookie!) but has had 5 podiums, and both drivers have finished every race except for heikki who had 2 tech failures (i dont know what the hell caused them???!!!!??) and has scored points every time he's completed a race. The williams are faster than me on most tracks especially in quali, but i manage to keep up with them in the race(even with a 1 stop fuel load which i do for EVERY race and "B" tyres) They have only not finished one race and that was in aregentina. They have mercedes engines. Mclarens have mercedes to and they do give me a hard time sometimes.

So the stats:
GPs: 49
Starts: 98
Points: 323
Poles: 7
F/Laps: 7
Wins: 17
Failures: 5
Finishing %:94%

2007 pre-japan:
Schumacher: 14 wins, 146 points(1st) Kovalainen: 0wins 47 points (2nd) <Damn Alonso in the mclaren beat schuey in france after being held up by traffic...ARRRGH!-ruined my perfect season.
Minardi-Ferrari:193 points, Williams-Mercedes: 78 points McLaren Merceds 73points, Renault-Renault 27 points, Toyota-Toyota 15points, Ferrari-Ferari 4 points. All others unclassified.

Just for the record, i finished 6th in the contructros in my first year with the cosworth including 1 lucky win, when i dry race turned wet and i pitted at the right time, and 3rd in the contructors in my second season with 2 wins, one at monaco (based on merit) and the other at portugal(helped by traffic)

So there you go. Work on your engine tuning, workout some setups. Do some good designs, Save some money for future investment, and when you are ready, hire race winning drivers and strike for the championships.
YOU CAN WIN WITH MINARDI!
FORZA MINARDI!!!!

[Smash]

FORZA!!

trying

[Furious]

sounds like a fun challenge, though may cause a few late nights...........! might have to give it a go when i get back from my hols