Minardi Formula 1 team founder Giancarlo Minardi has become the new president of the FIA’s single-seater commission.
He takes over from long-time Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley, who had occupied the role since predecessor Stefano Domenicali moved on to his current position in charge of F1 at the end of 2020.
Minardi’s team was one of F1’s best-loved underdogs.
The peak of its 20 years on the grid came in the late 1980s and early ’90s, when Pierluigi Martini led the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, qualified on the front row for the 1990 Phoenix race and then took two fourth places in 1991 that helped the team to its best-ever seventh place in the constructors’ championship.
Minardi sold his team to Paul Stoddart ahead of the 2001 season, and it was later acquired by Red Bull and turned into what is now AlphaTauri – still operating from the original Minardi headquarters in Faenza in Italy.
Since then, Minardi himself has remained involved in motorsport in roles including heading Italian motorsport’s Land Speeds Records Commission and as president of the Imola circuit since 2020.
The FIA single-seater commission’s responsibilities include the junior racing ladder leading to F1, safety and the superlicence system.
