The Observer
What is Gerhard Berger doing back in Formula One, and just how impulsive was his 50% purchase of Toro Rosso?
My phone beeped as I walked down the street last week. The message was from autosport.com: "Former Grand Prix driver Gerhard Berger has bought a 50 per cent stake in Red Bull's Scuderia Toro Rosso team." I raised my eyebrows in response. I might even have involuntarily "oooohed" out loud. Nothing like an out-of-the-blue news story to get your brain buzzing. But Berger, back in F1 - a surprise? No way.
When the Austrian quit as the head of BMW motorsport in September 2003, having announced his intention to leave six months earlier, few in Formula One believed they had seen the last of him. Berger himself made it clear he was leaving the door open. "First I want to see whether or how much I'm going to miss working in motorsport," he said. "If I can't cope without F1, I'll look around for a suitable task. I don't need to rush into anything just yet - I'm nowhere near feeling anything remotely like sweet boredom."
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