Wednesday February 16th, 2000

Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica are still interested in buying Minardi, the Italian Formula One team said on Wednesday.

"For now they are just a title sponsor," said Minardi chief executive Gabriele Rumi at the launch of the Italian team's new car in Bilbao.

"They could still buy the team at some point. If that happened, the team would move to Spain, but that won't happen for a year."

Minardi, who scored their first point in almost four years last season, have long been in talks to sell their financially-strapped team to an overseas buyer.

Although based in the Italian town of Faenza, Minardi have two Spanish-speaking drivers in Spaniard Marc Gene and Argentine Gaston Mazzacane and much of their backing is from Spain.

Team boss Giancarlo Minardi told the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper on Wednesday that a deal would have to come sooner or later.

"We will carry on negotiating because we have to marry Telefonica or someone else, maybe a carmaker. That is the only way that we can guarantee a secure future for the team."