Formula One Features — May 1992

Giancarlo Minardi has been trying to break into the F1 winners' club since 1985. He reckons everyone from the Romagna region of Italy is stubborn and will not give up. Motor racing history suggests that Giancarlo is probably right. The region is the home of the Italian motor racing industry and always has been. It was here that the Maserati brothers set up shop in Bologna; it was here that the Ferrari factory still stands. Lamborghini is in Modena and Dallara at Parma. There are the circuits too: Varano in the north, Misano in the east and Mugello to the south. And right in the middle is Imola.

Peter Wright is a self-confessed boffin. Generally regarded as the man behind the introduction of ground effect in F1 in 1978, Wright was later involved in the development of active suspension for Lotus Engineering. Today he has given up being managing director of Lotus Engineering and gone back to his spiritual home Team Lotus. In Barcelona he unveiled the Lotus 107 which he hopes will take the famous team back to the front of the F1 grids. As technical director, he has instigated a programme where technology once again leads the way.

Ron Dennis gets mildly annoyed when people ask him the question of which all F1 fans want to know the answer. What's gone wrong with McLaren this year? Five Grands Prix into the season, Nigel Mansell has 50 points, Ayrton Senna has eight. In the Constructors' World Championship Williams-Renault has 74 points, McLaren-Honda 16.