Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has confirmed that the company plans to sell its junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso before 2010.

There has long been speculation over the future of Toro Rosso - which is co-owned by Mateschitz and Gerhard Berger - and in an interview with Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell the energy drink company founder revealed that STR was now on the market.

Toro Rosso controversially uses chassis based on parent team Red Bull's designs, but with the 2010 rules set to prohibit any arrangement that could be classed as a 'customer car' operation, STR will need to design and construct its own unique chassis within the next two years.

Mateschitz does not think it would be viable to effectively run two independent teams, so has decided to off-load Toro Rosso.

"It is no big secret that we are putting the Toro Rosso team on the market," he told Motorsport Aktuell.

"By 2010 the rules will have changed - then there can no longer be a relationship between Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, in terms of design and construction.

"Consequently I feel it is important to focus on one team.

"We are not going to sell Toro Rosso during the 2008 season, but we will sell before 2010."

Red Bull created Toro Rosso when it purchased the tiny Minardi team at the end of the 2005 season.

The intention was to give its burgeoning stable of young drivers a junior squad where they could learn the ropes before being promoted to the senior Red Bull Racing operation.

Toro Rosso's chassis have all been based on Red Bull cars, albeit modified to accept different engines.

Because the cars were officially designed by a separate company - Red Bull Technologies rather than Red Bull Racing - Toro Rosso argued that this was within the regulations.

Ironically Toro Rosso's form improved last year when it began to follow its own development path rather than waiting for parts from the senior team's design office.

After a controversy that has rumbled on for several seasons, the teams recently agreed that the squads currently on the borderline of the 'customer car' regulations must establish themselves as truly independent constructors by 2010.

The need to comply with this also played a major part in Super Aguri's uncertain winter, as the team has relied heavily on technical support and chassis designs from the factory Honda squad and will need much greater resources to create its own cars.

Source: itv-f1