 Arrows Chassis Shines in Minardi's Comparison Test Tuesday September 16th, 2003
Minardi bought the A23 chassis earlier this year when the defunct Arrows team's assets were auctioned. In 2002 the Arrows team used the same Cosworth engines as used by Minardi this season. The A23, designed by Mike Coughlan who is now at McLaren, scored two points last year. Minardi, who are yet to score a point this year, said the revised chassis tested today is likely to form the basis of their 2004 Formula One challenger. Today at the Mugello circuit, Dutchman Jos Verstappen and Dane teammate Nicolas Kiesa were at the wheel of both cars as the Anglo-Italian squad assess the potential of the former Arrows chassis. Verstappen completed a total of 27 laps with each car, posting a fastest time of 1:25.439 with the current PS03 and a 1:25.622 with the PS04, which is how Minardi have called the revised Arrows chassis. "I think this was a good test," said Verstappen. "We compared both cars, and by the end of the day, the PS03 was quicker by less than 0.2 sec. It would have been useful, however, if we could have spent a bit more time with the PS04 chassis in order to find a better set-up, as we started the day without really knowing anything about the car. "We did some good work, though; the PS04 ran well and produced reasonably good lap times. I was also quite happy with the PS03 today on this track, which is very nice to drive on. To be honest, one day is really not enough time to carry out a thorough comparison, but it is a good start." Kiesa, meanwhile, covered 19 laps with the PS03 with a quickest time of 1:28.455, although the Dane's best lap of the day was a 1:28.148 with the PS04. "The team has done a useful day's testing here in Mugello with the PS03 and PS04," said team boss Paul Stoddart. "Some time was lost this morning while a gearbox problem was dealt with on the PS04, but then we did some solid running this afternoon. "Ultimately, there was nothing in the lap times between the two cars, but it is clear there is substantial development potential in the PS04. We will now return to the factory and analyse the data we've gathered, which will help us decide the direction we are going to take with our 2004 car."
Published at 18:27:07 GMT
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The Minardi team today carried out at the Mugello circuit a comparative test between their current PS03 chassis and the old A23 car from the Arrows team.
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