We've interviewed Paul Stoddart!

[minrdi]

Hi all,

As I mentioned about three weeks ago, I'd managed to land an interview with Paul Stoddart while he was in Melbourne for the SENNA premiere. Well, he kindly gave me a 90-minute interview afterwards where absolutely no topic was off-limits, and this is what we've put together:

http://bit.ly/nULFDF

Just some of the topics we've covered:

- Why Mark Webber, Justin Wilson and HWNSNBM are the best drivers he's worked with
- Why Gianmaria Bruni was "pigheaded and stupid"
- Why he's still smiling at Max Mosley's ANTSMSW5PG after all these years
- What went down during the farcical six-car 2005 US Grand Prix
- What inspired him to put Chanoch Nissany in the car during the Hungarian Grand Prix!

And plenty more!

[dinizintheoven]

Now, this should be very interesting! I will give it my full attention when I'm done podcasting for the month... which should be some time today.

[S951]

that was a good read

[AdrianSutil]

Thanks for that. Was always a massive Minardi fan so really enjoyed that. Especially the YouTube clip of the Indy race where's he's putting his, very forward, point across

[Barbazza]

This is a great interview, and my respect for him has gone up massively - about the same amount as my respect for Eddie Jordan (already diminishing every time he turns up to spout drivel on my TV screen) has gone down. I didn't realise how much bad stuff was going on in the mid-2000s.

[FullMetalJack]

Thanks for that. Was always a massive Minardi fan so really enjoyed that. Especially the YouTube clip of the Indy race where's he's putting his, very forward, point across

Everyone in the world was a massive Minardi fan.

[Faustus]

Very interesting interview. Thank you for posting this!
I never realised that the Minardi F1X2 two-seater car was based on the Tyrrell 026. I always assumed it was based on a Minardi.

[dinizintheoven]

The 026:


The F1X2:


So obvious now that it's been mentioned... it's all in the shape of the nose. Even to this day I never remembered the 026 having those humps in its nose, the logical conclusion of which is the concave surfacing we've seen on the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Virgins over the last couple of seasons. For comparison, here's the slabby, triangular Minardi noses...

The M02:


The PS01:

[Ferrim]

Just in case someone wonders, the Renault engine Stoddart refers to (when talking about the engine Minardi intended to fit in their 2001 car) is the Supertec engine Arrows and Benetton raced during 2000. It was an evolution of the 1997 Renault engine. Minardi had already looked into using that engine during 2000, but they didn't have the money. It was really a pity, because the 2000 chassis would have been dynamite with it (the same story happened in 1995 with the frustrated Mugen-Honda deal). The worst thing is that Minardi actually found the money they would have needed to pay for the Supertecs: Telefónica invested $15 millon to become team sponsors, a massive amount for the time and by Minardi's standards, but when they took that decision it was already too late to change the engine. So Minardi had more money than ever (and probably they never had as much again, at least relatively to the opposition), but were stuck with the same engine they had in 1999. It was partially with this money that Gabriele Rumi bought the rights to that engine, rebaptised it Fondmetal, and convinced Cosworth to make a few updates for it.

[mario]

Very interesting interview. Thank you for posting this!
I never realised that the Minardi F1X2 two-seater car was based on the Tyrrell 026. I always assumed it was based on a Minardi.

I'll admit that I was also in the camp that thought that Minardi had converted one of their own cars instead of using a Tyrrell, though, as dinizintheoven points out, once it's been mentioned, the family resemblance is quite clear.

The 026:
So obvious now that it's been mentioned... it's all in the shape of the nose. Even to this day I never remembered the 026 having those humps in its nose, the logical conclusion of which is the concave surfacing we've seen on the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Virgins over the last couple of seasons. For comparison, here's the slabby, triangular Minardi noses...

(P.S. Incidentally, dinizintheoven, I understand that the reason for those nose ridges reappearing on cars line the RB7 is only partially to do with the aerodynamics of the nose. From what I have heard, it seems that it was a compromise Newey had to make, partially because the FIA specified the height of the monocoque in that region as part of their crash protection requirements, and partially so it wouldn't compromise the front suspension geometry too badly.
As for the Minardi's of that time, I guess that was also related to the fact that they were the last team left that was still using a pullrod front suspension system when everybody else had switched to pushrods (mainly for practicality) - you can see how the nose changes drastically on the PS02 with the new suspension system).

Just in case someone wonders, the Renault engine Stoddart refers to (when talking about the engine Minardi intended to fit in their 2001 car) is the Supertec engine Arrows and Benetton raced during 2000. It was an evolution of the 1997 Renault engine. Minardi had already looked into using that engine during 2000, but they didn't have the money. It was really a pity, because the 2000 chassis would have been dynamite with it (the same story happened in 1995 with the frustrated Mugen-Honda deal). The worst thing is that Minardi actually found the money they would have needed to pay for the Supertecs: Telefónica invested $15 millon to become team sponsors, a massive amount for the time and by Minardi's standards, but when they took that decision it was already too late to change the engine. So Minardi had more money than ever (and probably they never had as much again, at least relatively to the opposition), but were stuck with the same engine they had in 1999. It was partially with this money that Gabriele Rumi bought the rights to that engine, rebaptised it Fondmetal, and convinced Cosworth to make a few updates for it.

That's quite interesting, and, as you say, a real shame that Minardi couldn't quite get their hands on the Supertec engine until too late - whilst that engine might have been a little on the old side too, it should have been quite a step up in performance.
For a moment, though, I was wondering if the Renault engine was going to be the one that Benetton used in the B201, because, the wide bank RS21 was pretty disastrous to begin with (and to be honest, though it was a bold decision, it never really quite worked properly).

[dinizintheoven]

Incidentally, dinizintheoven, I understand that the reason for those nose ridges reappearing on cars line the RB7 is only partially to do with the aerodynamics of the nose. From what I have heard, it seems that it was a compromise Newey had to make, partially because the FIA specified the height of the monocoque in that region as part of their crash protection requirements, and partially so it wouldn't compromise the front suspension geometry too badly.

The "nose ridges" I'm thinking of were far more pronounced on the 2010 cars - I'm thinking of the deep channel that ran right down the nose, and now that I think of it, it was far more obvious on the Mercedes than Red Bull. Ferrari's, Virgin's and even Hispania's noses were similarly designed, and I was always thinking throughout that season: "hang on, if the other two backmarkers thought of designing their noses that way, why didn't Lotus?" Looking at the last three Red Bulls again, it is more of a double-humped nose, when I was convinced they'd gone for the full rain-guttering of the Merc and Ferrari on the RB6 at least. Incidentally, when I first saw those humps on the RB5, my first thought was "url=http://f1lists.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/fw13b_renault_boutsen_silverstone.jpg]Williams FW13![/url]" - which I'd managed to concince myself was an Adrian Newey design, but the All-Knowing Oracle tells me it was Enrique Scalabroni.

As for the Minardi's of that time, I guess that was also related to the fact that they were the last team left that was still using a pullrod front suspension system when everybody else had switched to pushrods (mainly for practicality) - you can see how the nose changes drastically on the PS02 with the new suspension system).

Hang on. Now that you mention it... the M02 (2000) had pushrods, the PS01 (2001) had pullrods, the PS02 (2002) had pushrods... what were they doing, switching for one season?

[Jeroen Krautmeir]

but the All-Knowing Oracle tells me it was Enrique Scalabroni.

That would make sense, as in 1989, Newey was still at March, I think. If my memory serves me right, he only joined the team in either 1990 or 1991.

Fantastic interview by the way. Eddie Jordan just sounds becomes more of an arse day after day. The way they lost out on the Supertecs, despite having the cash, is most saddening.

[Howard A Treesong]

Great Interview, unless I've missed something I wasn't clear on what Stoddart had in his notes that made Eddie Jordan choke though, perhaps that's the point, we won't know.

[minrdi]

Unfortunately Stoddy wouldn't elaborate on the contents of this particular dossier when I spoke with him, suffice to say that it would have no doubt buried EJ had it ever been made public at the time...

I'm really thrilled that those of you who've taken the time to read it have enjoyed the interview; I had so much fun putting it together and Stoddy was incredibly obliging and good-humoured.

Oh, and I'm actually interviewing Tim Schenken tomorrow morning - I'll be asking him about one of the profiled Reject Teams he drove for: Trojan! If you can think of any questions you'd like asked, throw them in the comments and I'll try and incorporate a couple of them

[Ferrim]

I seem to remember it was something related to the Concorde Agreement -it's supposed to be completely secret- but that shouldn't scare Eddie Jordan particularly.

You know, a few years ago Stoddart conceded a "Big Interview" to Matt Bishop of F1 Racing, a few months before he sold Minardi, and many of the things he told minrdi had already appeared in that one. In fact it surprised me that minrdi's interview included so many bits I didn't know! Stoddart already told the history about calling Jordan "JJ", and made a few comments on that press conference at Canada. I'm currently not at home, but will be back in a couple of days and check what was what Stoddart said back then, as I still have the magazine.

[Ferrim]

Just checked the interview, and sadly Stoddart wasn't much more vocal (possibly less, understandably, as he still was in F1 at the time). He wouldn't reveal what the dossier read, but about Jordan's reaction he said that the dossier explained things completely opposed to the ones Eddie had been talking about in recent times. I remember Jordan had been firing a lot of people because he was losing a lot of money; he also said that the yachts he still used at the Monaco GP were rented, and a few more that I've forgotten. Maybe whatever papers Stoddart had put Jordan in a bad light because his situation wasn't as desperate as he was trying to make it, but I'm only speculating.