Toro Rosso are expected to be sold by the end of 2009

Rule changes in 2010 mean Red Bull will no longer be able to provide Toro Rosso with custom cars and so Matechitz says there is no need to run two teams.

"It is not a big secret that we've put Toro Rosso on the market," Mateschitz told Motorsport Aktuell magazine.

"I see the necessity that we continue with one team only for 2010 but we will not sell Toro Rosso during 2008."

Mateschitz and co-owner Gerhard Berger want to have a buyer in place by the end of next season.

"We will only sell the team if it is put into safe hands," added Austrian Mateschitz. "But it will be before 2010."

606: DEBATE They could make a nice profit; they took Minardi and turned them into decent midfielders. SH

Toro Rosso's cars are designed and constructed by Red Bull's team in Milton Keynes but under the new Concord Agreement teams will no longer be able to make cars for one another.

The Toro Rosso team came into existence in 2006 one year after Red Bull when Mateschitz bought the Minardi outfit from Paul Stoddart.

This season the team signed up four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais to race alongside German Sebastian Vettel.

The Frenchman earned two points for the team on his debut at the dramatic Australian Grand Prix.