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The Weekly Grapevine

This week: the Red Bull takeover of Minardi

That Paul Stoddart has sold Minardi is no surprise: over the years the hard-living, chain-smoking Australian expatriate had received in excess of 40 purchase offers and proposals. Some were downright ludicrous; others had legs but no muscle; a few got beyond the meet-Paul-and-drink-coffee stage, with the downright minority getting into main meal.

More recently Eddie Irvine was seen sniffing about the team's black/white motorhomes - allegedly on behalf of Roustam Tariko, a Russian banking and alcohol billionaire out to make a small fortune out of Formula One after starting off with a large one - and the now-scraggly bearded-Ulsterman's proposal is said to have tickled Stoddie's fancy more than all the rest combined.

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