During the 2000 season the Minardi team came in serious financial troubles. It is really interesting to read all the articles and reports from those days about the team. There were many people, companies and investment groups that were interested to take over the Minardi team. Eventually Paul Stoddart would save the Minardi Team. However, there was also a South African guy named Riccardo Ferrari that was willing to save Minardi. Do you remember him?
It is one of the interesting cases that was rumoured to take over the Minardi team, and I only recently found out. I was doing research about another rumour that Scuderia Ferrari was looking into Minardi to purchase is. Similar with Red Bull eventual did with Minardi to make it their junior team.
When did Riccardo Ferrari came in the spot? Well, when diving into my own archive I only came across his name twice. It were small sidenotes in an Autosport magazine and one in a Dutch magazine. Where came the news from that Riccardo Ferrari was interested to purchase Minardi?
It seems that his name, linked with Minard, appears for the first time around July 2000. It was a small side note that a South African citizen was looking into Minardi. At that time Minardi was already in speaking terms with several companies and groups. PSN was one of the serious groups that was interested in Minardi. They were their sponsor in 2000 brought in via Gastón Mazzacane.
Let’s go back to Riccardo Ferrari. There is almost no information about him, who he was, what his background is, or what his link with the sport is. It is the Italian media that started writing about him in the summer. In late August it came on a peak. It seems that Riccardo Ferrari had told several media outlets in Italy that he was in good terms with Minardi and that negotiations went well.
However, you probably feel it, Minardi came the 1st of September with a statement. A press officer told that the Minardi team is not in negotiations with the South African Riccardo Ferrari. They even said that “this” person was only bringing these rumours in the media only to profile himself. After Minardi came with the statement, it seems Riccardo disappeared in anonymity again.
