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- Jack599
"Sources in Monza have told Crash.net that Red Bull is on the verge of buying the Minardi team from Paul Stoddart.
It's said that a deal will be signed this weekend giving the Austrian company a week to complete due diligence before the arrangement becomes final.
We understand that the team will morph into Red Bull USA, giving the drinks firm the dream PR opportunity that it has always wanted. Such a deal would also solve the problem caused by the current log jam of Red Bull F1 drivers, giving a seat to Scott Speed and either Christian Klien or Tonio Liuzzi, and leaving the other at Red Bull Racing. We understand that the Austrian could be the most likely candidate for the satellite team, if it happens.
Interestingly Red Bull has just confirmed that Speed will be retained next year, although thus far he's been announced only as a test driver for the 'main' team.
A deal would also appear to put an end to any prospect of Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos staying on next year.
Paul Stoddart has made no secret of the fact that he is prepared to sell Minardi, but only to a blue-chip concern that would guarantee the future employment of his staff and a good future for the team. Few of the 'tyre kickers' who have approached him in the past have enjoyed the sort of credibility that Red Bull has.
Significantly a Red Bull buyout and the inevitable departure of Stoddart will have a much wider impact. It will not only silence a vocal 'dissenter', but also instantly switch Minardi to the Ecclestone camp, joining Ferrari, Red Bull and Jordan. It would shift the balance of power between the manufacturer group and those aligned to Bernie to six versus four.
There also remains the interesting possibility that the rebranded team could even have access to restricted Ferrari V10 engines next year, although that will involve dumping the current plans to run Cosworths. Longer term Ferrari engines would seem to be a logical choice, come what may.
Questioned on the prospects of a Red Bull/Minardi deal, Christian Horner would say only: "I wouldn't read too much into paddock gossip."
It comes only a week after Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported that representatives of banking giant Amro had led a consortium of Dutch businesses in talks with both Minardi boss Stoddart and F1 supremo Ecclestone over the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, with a view to making an offer for a share of the team."
It's said that a deal will be signed this weekend giving the Austrian company a week to complete due diligence before the arrangement becomes final.
We understand that the team will morph into Red Bull USA, giving the drinks firm the dream PR opportunity that it has always wanted. Such a deal would also solve the problem caused by the current log jam of Red Bull F1 drivers, giving a seat to Scott Speed and either Christian Klien or Tonio Liuzzi, and leaving the other at Red Bull Racing. We understand that the Austrian could be the most likely candidate for the satellite team, if it happens.
Interestingly Red Bull has just confirmed that Speed will be retained next year, although thus far he's been announced only as a test driver for the 'main' team.
A deal would also appear to put an end to any prospect of Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos staying on next year.
Paul Stoddart has made no secret of the fact that he is prepared to sell Minardi, but only to a blue-chip concern that would guarantee the future employment of his staff and a good future for the team. Few of the 'tyre kickers' who have approached him in the past have enjoyed the sort of credibility that Red Bull has.
Significantly a Red Bull buyout and the inevitable departure of Stoddart will have a much wider impact. It will not only silence a vocal 'dissenter', but also instantly switch Minardi to the Ecclestone camp, joining Ferrari, Red Bull and Jordan. It would shift the balance of power between the manufacturer group and those aligned to Bernie to six versus four.
There also remains the interesting possibility that the rebranded team could even have access to restricted Ferrari V10 engines next year, although that will involve dumping the current plans to run Cosworths. Longer term Ferrari engines would seem to be a logical choice, come what may.
Questioned on the prospects of a Red Bull/Minardi deal, Christian Horner would say only: "I wouldn't read too much into paddock gossip."
It comes only a week after Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported that representatives of banking giant Amro had led a consortium of Dutch businesses in talks with both Minardi boss Stoddart and F1 supremo Ecclestone over the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, with a view to making an offer for a share of the team."
Forgot about the Williams/Coswoth deal. I don't know how much truth there is in these rumours but crash.net are generally quite good 👍
