They only finished two races in their debut season and despite expending a great deal of effort, points, competitiveness and reliability were a long way off.

They snatched their first ever championship point at Detroit in 1988 when the long-serving (and suffering) Pierluigi Martini took sixth place.

The odd point drifted their way over the next few seasons with a couple of fourth places in 1991 at Imola and Estoril.

In 1993 the team had its best season to date accumulating seven points with Christian Fittipaldi and Fabrizio Barbazza at the helm, finishing in eighth spot in the Constructors' table.

However, the team could not build on that limited success and have continued to struggle in every season since, a sixth place for Pedro Lamy in the final race of 1995 was their last points finish before Marc Gene's sixth in the European GP in 1999.

Towards the end of '99, things were looking bad for Minardi.

Unable to find an engine deal - Supertec boss Flavio Briatore told them they had no place in F1 - it looked as though Minardi's F1 love affair with F1 was at an end.

Thankfully, a deal was done with Ford, which saw Minardi using the 1998 Ford Zetec engine.

Despite their best efforts Gene and Argentine team-mate Gaston Mazzacane were way off the pace and the team ended the season pointless.

The 2001 season marked another watershed for Minardi, as the withdrawal of a major sponsor at the end of the previous year left the team in difficult financial circumstances.

As a result, it was acquired in late January by UK-based Australian businessman, Paul Stoddart, head of the European Aviation Group of companies, and merged with his European Formula Racing operation in Ledbury, England.

His plan was to retain Minardi's distinct character in the F1 paddock, while providing EFR personnel, technical expertise and financial stability to strengthen the team and markedly improve its overall competitiveness in the future.

In 2002, with a new title sponsor, and the all-new KL Minardi PS02, a design overseen by Gustav Brunner before he was rudely poached by Toyota, the Minardi looked capable of springing surprises.

It was let down by the lack of power from its Asiatech engine. Mark Webber, who tried both the PS02 and the Jaguar chassis, preferred the Minardi.

Stoddart managed to keep his team afloat through 2002, though at times it looked like he would go the way of Prost and Arrows.

They survived, yet the plot of the Minardi story remained the same for the next two years, with the feisty Stoddart utilising all of his street-fighting qualities to keep the team in existence.

That Minardi will once again be on the grid in 2005 - proof that rumours of their demise remain greatly exaggerated - is a testament to how formidable an opponent Stoddart is in the dog-eat-dog world of F1.