Mateschitz: No hurry to sell STR

The energy drink giant regained total ownership of its secondary Formula One squad at the end of last year, buying out co-owner Gerhard Berger's share, but Red Bull has always maintained that it cannot support two fully-fledged constructor teams when the rules eventually preclude STR and RBR's current chassis-sharing arrangement.

However Mateschitz says there is no urgent need to find a new owner for Toro Rosso, as his priority is to ensure that the team have a secure future, not that they are rapidly sold.

"There is no pressure on us to proceed with the sale," he told Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten.

"If there is a potential buyer, he has to guarantee to keep STR alive and have the knowledge and funding to do this."

He confirmed that Red Bull's motorsport programmes are not under any threat amid the global financial downturn, and that the recent changes to Formula One rules agreed by the FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association had allowed his company to reduce its spending considerably.

"The cost-cutting measures in F1 are useful and appreciated, we can save a lot of money by them," he said. "For both teams we can save 100 million Euros."

Mateschitz said that Red Bull's primary business remained in good health, with turnover increasing by 13.2 percent last year and no decline expected in 2009.

He added that there was scope for the company to make cutbacks without any adverse effects.

"Our overall marketing budget usually ranges from 30 to 40 percent of our turnover," Mateschitz said. "We can easily reduce it to 25 and we would still invest much more than most other companies. But this is only a possibility."