Mihai Marinescu

Mihai Marinescu (born 25 January 1989) is a Romanian race engineer and former racing driver, formerly competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Marinescu was born in Brașov, Romania, and currently works as a race engineer for AIX Racing.

Career

Formula Junior & Formula Renault 1.6 After securing several Romanian national karting titles, Marinescu began his racing career in 2005, driving in the Italian Formula Junior 1600 and Belgian Formula Renault 1.6 series. He took six podium places to finish runner-up in the Italian championship, behind Pasquale Di Sabatino, and took three race wins to finish third in the Belgian standings.

Formula Renault In 2005, Marinescu also took part in selected Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 races and the end-of-season Italian Formula Renault 2.0 winter series, in which he finished thirteenth.

In 2006, Marinescu drove a full season in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship, finishing eleventh, and in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, where he finished sixth overall. He also drove in three French Formula Renault 2.0 races, failing to score a point.

In 2007, Marinescu dovetailed two championships once again, racing full seasons in both Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0. In the former, he secured a single podium finish at the Hungaroring to be classified in eleventh place, whilst in the latter he took three podium places to finish fifth in the championship.

British Formula 3 At the end of the 2007 season, Marinescu also contested two British Formula 3 Championship races for Räikkönen Robertson Racing at Rockingham Motor Speedway, taking a National Class podium during the weekend.

Formula BMW For 2008, Marinescu joined Fisichella Motor Sport to race in the newly formed Formula BMW Europe championship, which supported the Formula One World Championship at each European race meeting. He finished eleventh in the championship. In November 2008, he took victory in the Formula BMW Pacific race that supported the annual Formula Three Macau Grand Prix. He also took part in selected races in the Formula BMW Americas championship. At Montreal in June 2008, he was lucky to escape unhurt from a massive first lap crash involving Mikaël Grenier and Daniel Juncadella.

International Formula Master In October 2008, Marinescu competed in the final round of the International Formula Master season at Monza. Driving for Pro Motorsport, he finished third in the first race before retiring from the second event.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series In March 2009, Marinescu took part in Formula Renault 3.5 Series pre-season testing for the Austrian Interwetten.com team before signing with them a few days before the first round of the season in Barcelona. However, he was replaced by Tobias Hegewald after the first championship event, but this was only for Hegewald to gain experience of the circuit for his forthcoming F2 campaign, with Marinescu returning to the team for the following round in Monaco.

However, before the next round in Hungary, Marinescu left Interwetten.com and signed for the Italian RC Motorsport team to partner Pasquale Di Sabatino. He returned to Interwetten at Le Mans, but failed to break into the points.

Formula Two In 2010, Marinescu joined the FIA Formula Two Championship. He consistently finished in the midfield, and signed up to race in the series again in 2011. On 1 October 2011, Marinescu won his maiden race in Formula 2 at Monza.

Post racing career

Marinescu is an established race engineer with experience in F4 and F3. He has worked for Prema Racing and AIX Racing, and has worked with drivers including Mick Schumacher and Max Verstappen.

As preparation for his engineering degree, Marinescu built a racing simulator using one of his former F2 cars. The simulator was made available to the public for several years at a pub in his hometown of Brașov.

He has also been a regular commentator on Romanian broadcasts of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Hobbies Marinescu is an avid bicycle rider and keeps fit during the winter break by cycling in the mountains around his home city Braşov. A video featuring the young race driver descending the famous Transfăgărășan highway in Romania on his Trek racing bike became an instant hit on YouTube.

Racing record

Career summary SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition 2005 Italian Formula Junior 1600 AP Motorsport 12 2 0 0 6 200 2nd Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series 4 0 0 ? 0 9 13th Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium District Racing 10 3 1 ? 7 142 3rd Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Prema Powerteam 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2006 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 AP Motorsport 14 0 0 0 1 50 11th Formula Renault 2.0 NECPetrom District Racing 14 0 1 0 3 175 6th French Formula Renault 2.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0Petrom District Racing AP 14 0 0 0 1 37 11th Italian Formula Renault 2.0 13 0 1 0 3 206 5th British F3 National Class Räikkönen Robertson Racing 2 0 0 0 1 22 13th 2008 Formula BMW Europe FMS International 16 0 0 0 0 118 11th Formula BMW Americas Integra Motorsports 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† International Formula Master Pro Motorsport 2 0 0 0 1 6 22nd Formula BMW Pacific Motaworld Racing 1 1 1 0 1 N/A N/A 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Interwetten.com 11 0 0 0 0 0 30th RC Motorsport 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship MotorSport Vision 18 0 0 1 0 68 11th 2011 FIA Formula Two Championship MotorSport Vision 16 1 1 2 4 138 5th GP2 Final Rapax 2 0 0 0 0 0 24th 2012 FIA Formula Two Championship MotorSport Vision 16 2 3 3 4 161 5th 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Zeta Corse 8 0 0 0 0 5 25th Eurocup Mégane Trophy Oregon Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† † As Marinescu was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points 2009 Interwetten.com Racing CAT1 CAT2 SPA1 SPA2 MON1 BUG1 BUG2 ALG1 ALG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALC1 ALC2 30th 0 RC Motorsport HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 2013 Zeta Corse MNZ1 MNZ2 ALC1 ALC2 MON1 SPA1SPA2 MSC1 MSC2 RBR1 RBR2 HUN1 HUN2 LEC1 LEC2 CAT1 CAT2 25th 5

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points 2010 SIL1 SIL2 MAR1 MAR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 ZOL1 ZOL2 ALG1 ALG2 BRH1 BRH2 BRN1 BRN2 OSC1 OSC2 VAL1 VAL2 11th 68 2011 SIL1 SIL2 MAG1 MAG2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRH1 BRH2 RBR1 RBR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 5th 138 2012 SIL1 SIL2 ALG1 ALG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SPA1 SPA2 BRH1 BRH2 LEC1 LEC2 HUN1 HUN2 MNZ1 MNZ2 5th 161

Complete GP2 Final results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 DC Points 2011 Rapax YMCFEA YMCSPR 24th 0