While doing Formula One-related research for Player Two Start, I stumbled upon an interesting factoid about Ayrton Senna and Gian Carlo Minardi. For those not well versed in Italian, here's a translation:
Most likely, this would've gone about as well as Schumacher's brief stint with Mercedes (that is, not very well) but, considering the lowly profile of the Minardi team, having a surviving Senna on board would probably generate a lot of hype for the Faenza team, bringing some much needed money to the Minardi paddock. Maybe Senna alone won't be enough "to make Minardi great", but could there be a way for Senna's brief stint in Minardi to coincide with the start of something greater for the privateer team best known for its excellent coffee?
Many of the young drivers that began their F1 career with Minardi went on to become good to excellent (Fernando Alonso, man) drivers, so a world championship wouldn't be that unlikely...
And, having a Brazilian start a golden age for a team memetically associated with coffee would be... quite fitting, to say the least. 
PS: according to this article, Senna was willing to race for Minardi FOR FREE. Dude was dead serious about wanting to finish his career there.
The friendship with Ayrton Senna
Gian Carlo Minardi met Ayrton Senna in the early Eighties, when the Brazilian champion was racing in Formula Ford. Having caught the eye of Paolo Barilla, then a pilot of the Faenza team, Minardi himself was informed about Senna; Minardi then offered Senna about 50 million lire to run for him.
In a recent video interview released on Ayrton's birthday, Minardi said: "Ayrton thanked me, because I had been the first to make him a proposal of this kind, but he had other plans: he wanted to become world champion by 1988, something that eventually occurred ".
Minardi and Senna saw each other very often. Ayrton visited Gian Carlo during his Formula 2 races in England, and his father Milton spent a lot of time in the Minardi motor room. The Brazilian champion was very fond of the cuisine of Romagna. 1993 was a difficult year for Senna, due to Ron Dennis. Minardi said that at that time Ayrton often called him on the phone, and that he himself had conceived the famous formula employed by Senna with the McLaren team, that is, to agree on a race-by-race payment. According to the manager from Faenza, Ayrton told him: "I beat Fangio's record or I win five world titles, then I will run a year for you to make Minardi great".
This never happened, following the fateful accident of Imola in 1994.
Most likely, this would've gone about as well as Schumacher's brief stint with Mercedes (that is, not very well) but, considering the lowly profile of the Minardi team, having a surviving Senna on board would probably generate a lot of hype for the Faenza team, bringing some much needed money to the Minardi paddock. Maybe Senna alone won't be enough "to make Minardi great", but could there be a way for Senna's brief stint in Minardi to coincide with the start of something greater for the privateer team best known for its excellent coffee?
Many of the young drivers that began their F1 career with Minardi went on to become good to excellent (Fernando Alonso, man) drivers, so a world championship wouldn't be that unlikely...
PS: according to this article, Senna was willing to race for Minardi FOR FREE. Dude was dead serious about wanting to finish his career there.