Former Minardi boss too busy for F1

Mark Webber (AUS) KL Minardi Asiatech, Paul Stoddart (AUS) KL Minardi Team Owner Australian Grand Prix,

Paul Stoddart with Mark Webber on the podium at the 2002 Australian GP

Mar.21 (GMM) Even with Max Mosley gone and a new era of small teams dawning, Paul Stoddart seems unlikely to mount a return to the formula one paddock.

The 54-year-old Australian ran Minardi between 2001 and 2005, when he sold out to Red Bull in the wake of a furious political fracas with the then FIA president Mosley.

He said two years ago that only when Mosley’s reign ends “will I come back to the sport as a team opener”.

So with the FIA presidency now in the hands of Jean Todt and the Paris federation inviting new teams to apply now for 2011, is Stoddart ready to come back to F1?

“At the time entries opened, I didn’t put in a bid, but you never say never. I’ll watch and wait,” he told the Herald Sun newspaper on Sunday.

Stoddart was in Melbourne to oversee the promotional city running of one of his Minardi two-seater cars, ahead of the weekend’s Australian grand prix.

He said of the prospect of returning to F1: “Anyway, at the moment I wouldn’t have the time. I have a very successful business in the US, doing executive and VIP conversions on aircraft like Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.” Print This Article