Subject to approval
by competition authorities, Red Bull will again take over
the 50 percent share of the Formula 1 Team Toro Rosso that
has been owned by Berger Motorsport since 2006. The two
friends Dietrich Mateschitz and Gerhard Berger have led
their joint motorsports project, which emerged from the
former Minardi Team, to its greatest success to date. The
first win in the team’s 25 year history was celebrated at
the Italian Grand Prix together with Sebastian Vettel, one
of the Red Bull Driver Search Program’s biggest talents. In
the Formula 1 World Constructors’ Championship, the Scuderia
Toro Rosso achieved sixth (6) place in this year’s season.
Before Red Bull
took over Minardi, the team regularly held the role of
“bringing up the rear” on the Formula 1 track. The team had
to be radically overhauled to fulfil the expectations of the
new owners. As part of this reconstruction, the assignment
of 50 pct of the shares to Berger Motorsport was necessary.
With this transfer, Gerhard Berger brought all his Formula 1
knowledge and connections into the partnership in order to
help further develop Toro Rosso. "I am very happy that I can
support Didi - who has committed himself to Formula 1 with
so much dedication - with the reorganisation of the team and
in this process to make use of my knowledge so effectively,"
said Gerhard Berger.
Dieter Mateschitz
agrees: "I’m very grateful to Gerhard for his enormous
input. Together we have made Toro Rosso a team which, from
2008 onwards, will regularly qualify for the Top Ten and
collect Championship Points." From the beginning, Red Bull
was responsible for the financial and technical development
of the Team, whereas Gerhard Berger focused on steering the
athletic side.
"A 100 percent financing
of a joint project by one partner can only make sense, to my
mind, at an initial stage," Berger emphasised. “This
stage is over now. That’s why Red Bull will take over the
shares again." Meanwhile, "Red Bull will now run Toro Rosso alone on
this basis, as well as remaining a partner of Berger Logistik," added Mateschitz.