New Minardi will be 'ultra-radical'

The team has yet to run the car on the track, as it gears up to start the new season with its 2004 machine, but the design of the PS05 is understood to feature a vastly different nose area and a completely unique engine cover concept.

Although the exact design of the engine cover is not known, sources claim it may be sculpted in such a way to create extra surface area for downforce-inducing winglets. One team insider claimed that the solution is such that it leaves almost no room on the engine cover for visible sponsors' logos.

Speaking exclusively to autosport.com about his plans for the 2005 season, Stoddart admitted that he was genuinely excited about the car - even though he was keeping the exact secrets of the car close to his chest before it makes its public debut.

"Our preparations are going really well," he said. "The new car is due to be ready in time to be racing at Imola and it will be a radical change. You haven't seen a Minardi that looks like this, I can tell you.

"It is vastly different to anything we have done before - and you will struggle to find anything in F1 that is the same."

Although Stoddart is under no illusions that the new car will be good enough to lift his team into the fight for regular points, he is confident that it will allow his team to put Jordan under pressure - and score points when luck is on its side.

"I am pretty confident that we can give Jordan a good run for their money," he explained. "We will have 16 races with the new car and the new engine to try and get something - but we have to be realistic that if the front guys do their job and have reliability then we are not going to get a point.

"We've got a good solid driver line-up, the car will be for us, in our quiet modest way, mega from Imola on - and I think one of the biggest things is that Minardi has never had the opportunity to run with the same spec engine as another team. There is no A and B-spec Cosworth this year, there is just the A-spec, so for us that is a big plus.

"If you combine all of this together then it might mean on the right day, and I mean on the right day, then we can score points."

Minardi will debut the new car at the San Marino Grand Prix, with the team planning to use its 2004 PS04 for the first three races of the year.