The Minardi M197 was the car with which the

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

Formula One team competed in the

1997 Formula One season The 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 9 March and ended on 26 October after seventeen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Jacques Villeneuve and the Constr ...

Development

In late 1996, Minardi were acquired by a consortium led by

Flavio Briatore Flavio Briatore (; born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison senten ...

including former Minardi driver Alessandro Nannini and Gabriele Rumi of Fondmetal. Giancarlo Minardi retained a minority shareholding of the team that bore his name. The M197 was developed by Minardi chief engineer

Gabriele Tredozi Gabriele Tredozi (born September 9, 1957, in Brisighella, Italy) is a former engineer with the Minardi and Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One teams. While studying mechanical engineering at Bologna University, Tredozi began working for Minardi as an a ...

, head of the drawing office Mauro Gennaro, and lead aerodynamicist Mariano Alperin. The M197 was developed heavily at Fondmetal's wind tunnel in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, Italy. Davide Colombo also joined the aerodynamics team from F3000. Although design and development work had begun in mid-1996, the decision to use Hart V8 engines for 1997 was made late leading to extensive redesign work on the car in preparation for the first Grand Prix.

Racing overview

Minardi launched the M197 on February 4, 1997. It was confirmed at the unveiling the 1997 drivers would be Ukyo Katayama and rookie Jarno Trulli.

Tarso Marques Tarso Anibal Santanna Marques (born 19 January 1976) is a Brazilian racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Team Stange Racing in both series. He previously p ...

was retained as a test driver At the launch, it was announced a partnership with Mild Seven. At the first Grand Prix in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, both drivers qualified well - ahead of both Tyrrell's, both Arrows including that of reigning World Champion Damon Hill and both Lola's. Katayama would ultimately retire from the race, however Trulli finished in 9th. Trulli would go on to complete all of the first three Grand Prix, whilst more experienced team mate Katayama suffered two retirements. Trulli failed to start the San Marino Grand Prix due to a hydraulic failure. Ahead of the 1997 French Grand Prix, Trulli left Minardi to join Prost Grand Prix and was replaced by Marques. Neither Marques or Katayama would score a point during the remainder of the season. Marques was disqualified from the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix due to a weight infringement. The team were unclassified in the Constructors' Championship, with no points. They were classified ahead of the Lola team, who withdrew from the championship after the first Grand Prix.

Test drivers

The M197 was utilised by a number of drivers during test sessions. Alongside the three race drivers of Katayama, Trulli and Marques the M197 was tested by

Esteban Tuero Esteban Eduardo Tuero (born 22 April 1978) is an Argentine former racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Minardi team in 1998. At 19, he became the then-third-youngest (now eighth youngest) Formula One driver in history when he landed ...

, Tom Kristensen, Luca Badoer, Laurent Redon and

Oliver Martini Oliver Martini (born 12 December 1971, Bologna) is an Italian racing driver. He has competed in such series as International Formula 3000, Euroseries 3000 and the EFDA Nations Cup. He won the Italian Formula Three Championship in 1997 for RC Mot ...

Livery

The M197 featured a return to Minardi's colour scheme of black, yellow and white, used from 1988 to 1992. Fondmetal was one of the major sponsors, along with Mild Seven (brought by new driver Ukyo Katayama) and Roces.

Complete Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

*'' AUTOCOURSE 1997-98'', Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1997) {{F1 cars 1997 Minardi Formula One cars 1997 Formula One season cars