Red Bull have bought Minardi.

**LUD02C** · 11-09-2005 11:09 AM

Red Bull have reached an agreement with Paul Stoddart to buy Minardi, they confirmed at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

The soft drinks giant, who already own Red Bull Racing, will take control of Minardi on November 1, when they will set about shaping an independent team designed to nurture drivers on their development programme.

Stoddart had held talks with Red Bull over the last week and they have on Saturday concluded an agreement which the Australian aviation millionaire hailed as "good news for Minardi".

Full press release...

Today, at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, an agreement was reached whereby, from 1st November 2005, Austria's Red Bull GmbH will take over all the company shares of the Minardi Formula 1 team and will be responsible for running the team. Red Bull will therefore run two Formula 1 teams from the start of the 2006 season onwards.

The second team will be positioned as a "Rookie Team" and this and the current Red Bull Racing will operate independently of one another and compete against one another on the track.

The main reasons for Red Bull deciding to enter a second team starting in the 2006 Formula 1 World Championship are:

1. Red Bull has more talented drivers than it has available cockpits. This meant there were only two ways of helping up-coming drivers: either place them in other teams or to increase the number of cockpits available to us. After much careful thought, Red Bull decided to go with the second of these options.

2. Looking at the current state of Formula 1 we feel that the second team will be able to maintain its current assets while also being able to generate its own income in the future, in order to become almost self- financing.

3. This acquisition also means that Red Bull now has a second vote in any matters raised regarding the future of Formula 1.

At the moment, no decisions have been taken as regards the name of the team, its management nor its drivers.

Paul Stoddart will be leaving Formula One at the end of October having sold his Minardi F1 team to Red Bull Racing.

Red Bull announced earlier on Saturday that they would acquire 100 per cent of the shares in the Minardi team by no later than November 1, 2005, which means Stoddart's time in the sport will soon be over.

"From a purely personal standpoint, I am going to be very sad to leave this paddock and the sport I love,"

"I have always said, however, that I would consider selling the team if a serious potential buyer could meet certain key conditions.

As for the deal, the Australian said: "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."

"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."

Stoddart also took the time to thank his Minardi personnel.

"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 (Spa) tomorrow."

**kenshin** · 11-09-2005 11:14 AM

wow... beat me to it jas... was suprised no one up to now has mentioned it...

have to wait and see if its a good move...

**Vivski** · 11-09-2005 02:39 PM

Are they going to buy Williams and McLaren too? Seems like they want to take over the championship.

**^^v** · 11-09-2005 05:33 PM

lolz poor Minardi... n stoddard... the guy needs some sleep!
wonder if they can step up next year

**bigteethygrin** · 11-09-2005 08:00 PM

great move from redbull.. good to see how fast they are progressing into f1. not long before they become a front runner i reckon. What will be interesting is to see if they will run the same cars or different chasis for each team,.. and also the engine supplies.

**[ slayer ]** · 13-09-2005 12:47 PM

yeh shame to see minardi and stoddard gone... but big step up for rbr, they must be fully loaded to be able to afford to run 2 teams...

**Vivski** · 13-09-2005 07:07 PM

I'll say! Imagine the financial input to an F1 team. Mind boggling.

**^^v** · 13-09-2005 07:20 PM

even thought redbull own two teams now... still dun think their annual expenditure will equates to that of the bigger teams... ie... Ferrari.. Toyota.. etc...

**kenshin** · 13-09-2005 07:31 PM

also cuts cost running 2 teams in tandem than it will to run 2 teams independant from one another.

**TwEigh** · 13-09-2005 08:21 PM

I wonder if those two team will help each other in testing etcetc,
If both team have same packages then it really a big advantage to the team

I guess $2.50 Can of redbull that we buy frequently has more than 90% profit in it..
Wouldnt suprise me if we see CocaColaF1 team in the next few years.