Minardi M02


The Minardi M02 was the car with which the Minardi Formula One team competed in the 2000 Formula One season. It was driven by the young Spaniard Marc Gené, in his second year with the team, and the Argentine rookie pay-driver Gastón Mazzacane.
As ever, the car was a neat and tidy design, but hampered by a lack of power and testing mileage. The new fluorescent yellow colour scheme turned heads, but did little to improve the team's fortunes, as they eventually finished a de facto tenth in the Constructors' Championship, with no points but ahead of Prost due to a better finishing record. The team therefore qualified for some of the sport's television revenues in 2001.
At the end of the year, Telefonica pulled out of sponsoring the team, making it the last Formula One car until the 2004 Renault R24 to be sponsored by the Spanish telecommunications company, while Fondmetal boss Gabriele Rumi was forced to sell the team due to ill health, leaving team founder Giancarlo Minardi with the task of finding the budget for 2001. The team was eventually bought by the Australian aviation entrepreneur, Paul Stoddart.
In 2014 British F1 engineering company TDF rebuilt chassis 1 and 2 for demonstration use. Chassis 2 was displayed and ran at speed on circuit at Zandvoort 'Festival Italia' driven by Jan Lammers. This was the first time an M02 chassis had run in public since 2001.

Complete Formula One results

YearTeamEngineTyresDrivers1234567891011121314151617PointsWCC
2000MinardiFondmetal RV10 V10*AUSBRASMRGBRESPEURMONCANFRAAUTGERHUNBELITAUSAJPNMAL0NC
2000MinardiFondmetal RV10 V10*Marc Gené8RetRet1414RetRet16158Ret1514912RetRet0NC
2000MinardiFondmetal RV10 V10*Gastón MazzacaneRet101315158Ret12Ret1211Ret1710Ret15130NC

* Denotes Cosworth-built engines, badged as Fondmetal