Formula One news

Stoddart sad to sell Minardi

Paul Stoddart said he is going to be 'very sad' as the chequer falls at the Chinese GP next month. It will mark the Australian's final race as a formula one team owner and principal after Red Bull bought the smallest outfit on the current grid.

''From a purely personal standpoint,'' Stoddart admitted in Belgium, ''I am going to be very sad to leave this Paddock and the sport I love.''

After 41 approaches from what Paul calls 'timewasters', Dietrich Mateschitz put together a buyout deal that impressed. Stoddart says the energy drink magnate has the 'personal commitment' and 'commercial backing' that others did not. Minardi, almost certainly to be renamed for 2006, will remain based at Faenza and with most of the staff intact.

It is true, though, that F1's Concorde Agreement deters multiple-team ownership. One such deterrent, according to sources, is that - contrary to reports - Red Bull will not win a second vote on F1 matters. But Stoddart, often called an 'anorak' rather than a real 'racer', doubted that Mateschitz was interested in that.

''I think (he) is much more sensible ... than that,'' he told Reuters. Undoubtedly, the 'junior' or 'rookie' Red Bull team will - like Red Bull Racing and unlike Minardi - sign Bernie Ecclestone's new 2008 Concorde. ''This is very likely,'' Mateschitz - who sent Vitantonio Liuzzi skydiving over Spa on Friday afternoon - admitted.

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