Minardi was born in Faenza, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. His family's connection to the automotive trade was immediate: his father Giovanni ran a Fiat dealership and an Agip fuel station, immersing Giancarlo in the world of cars from childhood. Giovanni Minardi died while his son was still young. Giancarlo pursued a career in business rather than driving initially, running a successful truck dealership, and the family concern expanded to include Iveco and Selenia franchises.
Minardi entered motorsport as a competitor in 1968, acquiring a Faccioli-tuned Fiat 500 and entering hillclimb events. He graduated to rallying with a Fiat 124 before shifting from driving to team management, taking charge of the Scuderia del Passatore racing team. Between 1972 and 1974 he led the team in Formula Italia, finishing runner-up in the championship in 1972 and then winning it in 1973 with driver Giancarlo Martini. Under the renamed Scuderia Everest banner, the team competed in the European Formula Two Championship for two seasons from 1975, running a BMW-March.
In 1980 Minardi established a new team bearing his own name with financial backing from Italian motor racing patron Piero Mancini. The Minardi team competed in Formula Two for four seasons with consistent results. The most notable early achievement came in 1981 when Michele Alboreto won the Formula Two round at Misano driving a Minardi.
The logical next step was Formula One, and Minardi made the transition in 1985. The team competed at the back of the grid as a small constructor, fielding Italian and international drivers through successive seasons. In 1991 Ferrari agreed to supply Minardi with V12 engines, a significant technical endorsement for an underfunded team.
Financial pressure was a recurring theme throughout Minardi's stewardship of the team. In 1994 the team merged its operations with Scuderia Italia in an attempt to survive. Money difficulties returned in 1996 and Minardi was forced to sell 70 percent of the team to a new investor consortium, retaining 14.5 percent himself while the remainder was distributed among the Scuderia Italia investors and a fourth party.
Flavio Briatore became a major shareholder following a deal brokered by Bernie Ecclestone. In 1997 Gabriele Rumi from Fondmetal entered as a major partner, and Minardi and Rumi shared the General Director role from 1997 to 2000.
In 2001 Australian businessman Paul Stoddart bought the team. Giancarlo retained the role of Managing Director with a particular focus on driver development, but his influence over the team's commercial and technical direction diminished. When Red Bull acquired the team in 2005 and renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2006 season, Minardi's formal association with the organisation he had founded ended.
Driver development was among Giancarlo Minardi's most enduring contributions to Formula One. Minardi gave Formula One debuts to Giancarlo Fisichella, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, and Jarno Trulli, among others. All four went on to win grands prix or world championships with other teams. The team's position at the constructors' boundary made it a natural stepping stone: drivers who could not secure seats at established midfield teams could prove themselves in a Minardi before moving onward.
After leaving the team Minardi supported the Minardi Team by GP Racing in Euro F3000 and Minardi Piquet Sports in GP2. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2006 GP2 championship while racing with Minardi Piquet Sports.
Giancarlo Minardi has remained active in Italian motorsport and civic life. He ran for Mayor of Faenza in 2010. In 2021 he became president of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola. In 2022 he was appointed President of the FIA's Single Seater Commission, a role that placed him in a position to influence the development of single-seater racing globally. He continues to reside in Faenza. His son Giovanni, named after his late grandfather, runs the driver management firm Minardi Management, whose clients have included young Formula One drivers.