Motorsport: Minardi sale to Red Bull completed

LONDON - Minardi boss Paul Stoddart handed over his Formula One motor racing team to new owners Red Bull after the sale was completed today.

"It's all done, they own it. They didn't mess around," the Australian aviation entrepreneur said from the team's Faenza factory.

"It's a very sad day and I really wish there was another solution."

Red Bull, owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, have said they will rename the team Squadra Toro Rosso (Italian for "Team Red Bull") and use it as a proving ground for rookie talent.

Stoddart's replacement as principal has yet to be named but the Australian, who has sold Minardi to secure the team's future, said it would be BMW's Austrian Franz Tost.

Red Bull said that although an announcement was likely in the next few days, the new boss would not be able to take charge of the team until the New Year because of existing contractual commitments.

In the meantime it would be run by Red Bull from their Austrian headquarters.

American Scott Speed and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi are expected to drive for the team, which will remain Italy-based.

Mateschitz also owns the Red Bull Racing team after buying Jaguar from Ford last year.

Stoddart leaves Minardi after five years at the helm. The Australian, who will now be concentrating on launching his new Ozjet airline in Australia, saved the tailend strugglers from financial collapse in 2001.

He thanked team founder Gian Carlo Minardi in a statement last week for having the "vision and the bravery to strike out into Formula One in the first place".

Without that, and the resilience to battle against the odds, he said Minardi would "undoubtedly have suffered the same fate as many well known, and frequently better funded organisations, and simply fallen by the wayside".

"Regrettably the Minardi name will now disappear from the sport but I firmly believe the competitive spirit that has burned brightly within this team for the past 21 years will live on under its new owners."

- REUTERS