It
is today announced that an agreement
has been reached whereby Red Bull
GmbH will acquire 100 per cent of
the shares in the Minardi Team by no
later than November 1, 2005. The
Minardi F1 Team will continue to
operate in its existing guise, with
the same driver, sponsor and
personnel arrangements, for the
remaining rounds of the 2005 FIA
Formula One World Championship.
“From a purely personal standpoint,
I am going to be very sad to leave
this Paddock and the sport I love,”
Minardi Team Principal, Paul
Stoddart, commented today at the
Spa-Francorchamps circuit, where the
Faenza squad is preparing for
tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. “I
have always said, however, that I
would consider selling the team if a
serious potential buyer could meet
certain key conditions.
Specifically, I wanted to be
convinced of the following: (1)
there was sufficient personal
commitment and commercial backing in
place to move the team to a level of
competitiveness that I could not;
(2) the team would continue to be
based in Italy; and (3) the majority
of team personnel would have a
stable future.
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The Minardi F1 Team will continue to operate in its
existing guise, with the same driver, sponsor and
personnel arrangements, for the remaining
rounds of the F1 season |
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It is today announced that an agreement has been
reached whereby Red Bull GmbH will acquire 100 per
cent of the shares in the Minardi Team by no
later than 1st November |
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After detailed discussions with Dr Mateschitz’s
representatives, I am satisfied that Red Bull meets all of
these criteria, and on that basis, I have agreed to sell the
team.
“Finally, I want to thank everyone at Minardi for their
unflagging support over the five years of my ownership. It
may be the smallest team currently on the Formula One grid,
but it definitely possesses the largest heart. It would be
entirely fitting, and not beyond the realms of possibility,
to see Fernando Alonso, who started his career with Minardi
in 2001, crowned as the youngest-ever Formula One World
Drivers’ Champion here tomorrow.”
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