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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner thinks that Formula 1 needs a new team like Minardi in order to give young, promising drivers a chance in F1. The Italian believes that there are not enough seats in Formula 1 to accommodate young drivers and give them a shot of making a name in motorsport's pinnacle.
Minardi formed on the grid in 1985 and raced for over twenty years, before being bought out by Red Bull to be turned into a junior team, which we now know as Toro Rosso. The team had a reputation for handing drivers opportunities, with Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber all debuting for the squad.
"The difficulty for young drivers is they need to be in the right time at the right place," said Steiner. "There is nothing else you can do for it, at the moment you cannot even buy a cockpit. When Minardi was around, Minardi was maybe happy to be last, that was their duty to bring drivers up.
"Maybe they were not happy to be last but they could live with it because that was their business model - to develop drivers, that's a good business model. It's like when Ricciardo drove the HRT, you knew he was not going to do anything but it gave him experience and that's not there anymore.
In recent years, HRT, Caterham and Manor have all dropped off the grid due to rising costs, denying an entry route for young guns waiting. Stationed in the wings are a number of young talented racers, most prominently Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi, who are both juniors of Ferrari.
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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