Track & Race Cars, August 2008 UK magazine Covering the every year of the F1 team Minardi, this book covers the history of the much loved back-markers. Known as the team occupying the back of F1 grids, Minardi once had potential in its earlier years. This book describes the bad luck and decisions that shaped Minardi to the team we know. This well-written account is a good humored read with some great pictures detailing things you might not have know, like Senna’s close relationship with the team . Well worth a look. 4/5 Review from AutoXChange, 2008 www.autox.in Indian website Gian Carlo Minardi’s F1 team was known by a lot of names – ‘Bunch of no-hopers’, ‘The Other Italian Team’, ‘Everybody’s second-favorite team’, and ‘F1’s nursery’ come to mind immediately.

It was the team that, seemingly by birthright, owned the last two spots on the F1 grid and was always the underdog. Under-funded and running under-developed cars, Minardi made its way into every F1 fan’s heart simply by its gutsy showing at every race. If Ferrari and McLaren were Goliaths, Minardi was almost David. The name is gone now, the team having been bought over by the insensitive Mr. Mateschitz of Red Bull who obviously doesn’t have a sense of history, unlike BMW – the Germans being sensitive enough to retain Peter Sauber’s surname for the Bavarian firms new team. 'Forza Minardi!', a book by Simon Vigar, gives you an insight into the goings-on at Minardi HQ, Faenza, through the years of struggle. Simon Vigar is a motorsport correspondent for LBC Radio in London. He’s been driven by Michael Schumacher in a F430 at Fiorano, taken on Nigel Mansell in a go-kart, and has a self-confessed soft spot for the erstwhile Italian minnows.

'Forza Minardi!' tells you the Minardi story as relayed by those on the inside – including the team management and drivers who raced for Minardi starting from 1985. You know, of course, that Minardi contested 21 seasons in F1 without once getting on the podium. But did you know that Gian Carlo Minardi once subjected the non-smoking Enzo Ferrari to an entire packet’s worth of cigarette smoke for three hours while trying to get Enzo to support his team’s bid for the junior Formula Italia championship? Or that he regrets not punching Ron Dennis at Mugello in 1978, because he had not realized that Dennis was insulting him and Italy since he did not speak English? Or for that matter, did you know that, in 1990, one Ayrton Senna of Brazil actually contemplated joining Minardi? 1985 started badly though, with Alfa Romeo backing out of an agreement (not contract) to supply engines at the last minute. Engines and engine supply was always a problem for Minardi throughout its life in F1, and, lets face it, that’s like going into a battle with one hand tied behind your back. For anybody who was or still is a Minardi fan, Forza Minardi is a damn good read and worthy of space on the bookshelf. One gets the feeling of being made privy to insider stuff, and the choice of images, thanks to various sources, makes the book a complete package. Simon takes you through the ownership changes, to Gabriele Rumi of Fondmetal first, and then, as Rumi fell ill, to Paul Stoddart, the feisty Australian aviation man. Each year of Minardi’s existence is dealt with in a way that makes the reader discover more and more about Minardi as he or she reads on.

All through, the text is replete with quotes that together make the reader go through various realisations like, ‘I didn’t know that!’, or ‘Oh, I see .’, and ‘So that’s why!’ The bonus, of course, is getting an alternative look at F1 from the back of the grid!.