The Minardi M01 was developed by Gustav Brunner, formerly of Scuderia Ferrari, and long time chief engineer Gabriele Tredozi.

[5] Gastón Mazzacane joined the team ahead of the launch, however by mid February it was confirmed that Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer would race alongside Gene for 1999.

[8] Testing continued in February at Mugello, with Badoer posting times around 1 second slower than Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine.

Following the race, Luca Badoer was involved in an accident whilst testing the M01 at Fiorano Circuit, which left him with a broken wrist.

Prior to the Canadian Grand Prix, reports suggested Badoer was to be replaced for the remainder of the season with Shinji Nakano linked.

With changeable weather conditions, strategy errors, accidents including a major one for Pedro Diniz, had left the field in an unusual classification.

Luca Badoer looked set to finish in 4th place and score 3 valuable championship points, but with 13 laps remaining he suffered a retirement due to transmission failure.

These drivers were Max Wilson, Norberto Fontana, Giorgio Vinella, Peter Sundberg and future Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso.