Red Bull has regained 100% control of junior team Toro Rosso after it bought out the remaining 50% share in the team from Gerhard Berger. The Austrian former Formula One driver has had joint ownership of the team since its inception in 2006, and played a key role in the team's rise to success, culminating in their first victory at the Italian Grand Prix this year.
When Red Bull bought Minardi at the end of 2005, rebranding the team to 'Scuderia Toro Rosso', Berger was appointed to help the team grow and develop fully, following their poorer days as Minardi. With the reconstruction now complete, Red Bull has resumed 100% ownership.
In a statement issued by Red Bull this evening, the company's owner Dietrich Mateschitz was quick to thank Berger for his efforts over the past three years. "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."
In 2008, Toro Rosso, despite running on a sizeably smaller budget that its parent team, staged a mid-to-late season spurt to pull clear of the Red Bull works team by the end of the year, finishing the season in sixth place in the constructors' championship. In the final nine races, the team scored points seven times, including a victory at Monza and a fourth place at the final race of the season in Brazil.
"I am very happy that I can support Dietrich - 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. Over the first three years of the partnership, Red Bull has been the sole funder of the team, while Berger focused on the sporting side, putting his race-winning experience to good use. "A 100% financing of a joint project by one partner can only make sense, to my mind, at an initial stage. This stage is over now. That's why Red Bull will take over the shares again."
"Red Bull will now run Toro Rosso alone on this basis, as well as remaining a partner of Berger Logistik," added Mateschitz.
The team's future was cast in doubt earlier this year when Mateschitz announced that his 50% stake in the team was up for sale. Added to that the ongoing commotion about customer cars, and the outlook for STR looked bleak. However, following their victory in Monza, and a shift of opinion regarding customer cars, Toro Rosso is back in safe hands with its future seemingly secure, although they are yet to announce their 2009 driver line-up.
The new agreement is subject to approval by competition authorities.
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