Paul Stoddart

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Stoddart at the 2005 Australian Grand Prix

Paul Stoddart (born May 26, 1955 in Melbourne ) is an Australian aviation operator and founder of various airlines. Until 2005 he was also the owner of the Formula 1 racing team Minardi .

Stoddart has a considerable fortune made from low cost airlines. In 1998 , Stoddarts European Aviation had 30 aircraft, including two Boeing 747s , 13 Boeing 737s and six Airbus A300s .

In 2005, Stoddart founded the low-cost airline OzJet , which was sold to HeavyLift Cargo Airlines three years later .

Motorsport

Beginnings

Paul Stoddart announced in 1998 that he wanted to enter Formula 1 with his own Australian team over the next five years. At that time Stoddart owned 41 vehicles, 16 of which were fully functional and were regularly used in Boss GP races for his European Formula Racing team . He also loaned operational chassis to several demonstration events as well as to British American Racing , which carried out tests on various cars before their first season. Stoddart bought his first racing car in 1996 with the Tyrrell DG016 , which he also regularly drove himself.

One of his first Formula 1 engagements was as a sponsor of the Tyrrell team after he was able to establish initial contact with the racing team through Tyrrell's team manager Ruoert Mainwaring . Stoddarts promoted European Aviation on the front wings of the Tyrrell 025 , and the airline also carried the team to the venues free of charge at all European races. Stoddart wanted to build a wind tunnel and give it to Tyrrell, but it didn't stop there. Team green Ken Tyrrell and Stoddart became friends and began negotiations to take over the team. Stoddart offered 25 million US dollars, the deal was about to be signed, but the deal fell through after the purchase of British American Tobacco . Stoddart was able to buy at least a large part of the team's materials after the new British American Racing team showed no interest in them.

At the beginning of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1999 , Stoddart negotiated a 20 percent stake in the Jordan team. The deal was almost perfect, Stoddart offered $ 20 million, but the season got off to a very good start for Jordan and team founder Eddie Jordan turned down the offer. Nevertheless, European Aviation appeared as a sponsor for the Jordan 199 on the side pods. Stoddart then also started talks with Arrows owner Tom Walkinshaw about a takeover after the team showed great progress in the 2000 season and caused a sensation in Canada with fourth place, achieved by Jos Verstappen . But the talks were ended because, according to Stoddart, the team's finances were “in great disarray”.

Purchase of Minardi

Mark Webber at the Minardi, whose career was promoted by Stoddart

Meanwhile, the Italian team Minardi ran into financial problems and began looking for new investors. In the autumn of 2000, the owner Giancarlo Minardi and Paul Stoddart met, who finally acted as Minardi's savior by ensuring that racing operations continued with the purchase.

With Minardi, Stoddart also promoted the career of his compatriot Mark Webber , who made his entry into Formula 1 at Minardi. In his very first race in Australia, Webber achieved fifth place, the first place in the points after years of unsuccessfulness. Until the sale of the racing team to Red Bull ( Scuderia Toro Rosso ), Stoddart was known for the fact that he liked to exercise the blocking minority with his vote in the FIA college of teams or to express sharp criticism of FIA President Max Mosley .

After sale

The Minardi F1x2

In March 2006, Stoddart announced his plans to return to Formula 1. In 2008 , Stoddart applied with the name Minardi for twelfth team place in the Formula 1 World Championship, but this went to Prodrive , which ultimately did not compete in the season.

In December 2006, Stoddart bought the CTE Racing HVM team and renamed it Minardi Team USA for 2007. He nominated Dan Clarke and Robert Doornbos as drivers . The season went perfectly and Doornbos took third place in the championship with two wins and won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2008, the Champ Car World Series was bought up by rival IndyCar and Stoddart decided not to participate because he feared that his team, as during his time with Minardi in Formula 1, would not be anywhere near competitive.

With the takeover of Formula 1 by Liberty Media , the new management wanted to expand their proximity to their fans. Paul Stoddart then offered rides in the Minardi F1x2 from the 2017 race in Spain , a two-seater Formula 1 car in which, in addition to the racing driver, another person can drive in the racing car.

Web links

Commons : Paul Stoddart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b grandprix.com: Stoddart plans F1 take-off. Grand Prix, November 2, 1998, accessed March 31, 2020 .
  2. ↑ smh.com.au: OzJet sells to HeavyLift Cargo Airlines. The Sydney Morning Herald, May 6, 2008, accessed July 20, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f unracedf1.com: Paul Stoddart attempts to enter the F1 before Minardi. Unraced F1, July 31, 2017, accessed March 31, 2020 .
  4. ↑ autosport.com: Stoddart rules out IRL campaign. Autosport, March 12, 2008, accessed March 31, 2020 .
  5. ↑ racefans.net: F1 launches new fan zone and TV channel at Spanish GP. RaceFans, May 11, 2017, accessed March 31, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Stoddart, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian Formula 1 racing team owner
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne