Motorsport: Chequered flag for four F1 teams and the constructors' title

Those watching the Chinese Grand Prix will be witness to the passing of no fewer than four F1 teams tonight. It will be the last GP for Minardi, Sauber, Jordan and BAR, who will all pass into the annals of F1 history.

The constructors' championship will also be decided, with McLaren and Renault producing the closest race since 1999, and with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso producing the finest no-holds-barred overtaking frenzy of the 2005 series at last week's Japan GP, the omens are good for another exciting race.

However, in terms of the impact on F1 and a clue as to its future, it is the loss of the four teams that will have most significance in Shanghai. When we say 'loss' we mean 'transfer', really, as all the teams will disappear but emerge in different livery.

Minardi, the team of F1 enfant terrible Paul Stoddart, will become Red Bull's junior squad - the outfit who are sponsoring a 15-year-old Palmerston North schoolboy who has become the first New Zealander in recent times to have a clear path to Formula One motor racing. Brendon Hartley has won a spot on the Red Bull junior racing team after a test session in Portugal at which 22 drivers from around the world competed for four places and support of 100,000 ($173,000) a year. The four drivers will be placed with teams in the Renault 2000 European and Italian championships next season, with the chance to progress to Formula Three, Renault V6 and, ultimately, Formula One.

Red Bull runs two cars in Formula One but will have four next season after buying the Minardi team to use for driver development.

Jordan, the only one of the four to actually win a GP, will become Midland, the unimaginative name of the Russian-backed conglomerate which bought Jordan some time ago. Sauber, owned by Peter Sauber - the man who brought an unheralded Raikkonen to F1 and gave Michael Schumacher a drive in sports-car racing - is retiring but his team will be taken over by new owners BMW, who are splitting from the old Williams alliance.

BAR will pass to Honda, its new owners but who made engines for BAR anyway, now that British American Tobacco have sold out in advance of cigarette advertising going up in smoke next year.

Perhaps the most visible loss will be that of Stoddart, the Australian aviation tycoon, who arrived full of Aussie swagger on the back of a commercial airline business and goes out having just about broken even following the 20 million purchase of Minardi by Red Bull.

A condition of the sale is a guarantee that Minardi will not be moved from their Italian base in Faenza. "That was very important to me," Stoddart said. "I've enjoyed every minute of my time in F1 but, most of all, I have enjoyed the people."

But while the little guys wander off into the sunset, McLaren and Renault will square off for the constructors' championship. Renault lead by two points, 176 to 174, the reverse of their standings before last week's Japan GP.

The battle could go down to the last lap - and it will also be the last lap for Jordan, Minardi, Sauber and BAR.

- AGENCIES