Minardi have confirmed that around twenty team personnel have been made redundant ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

A Minardi spokesperson revealed that the cuts are exclusively at the team's UK plant in Ledbury, and not as some reports had claimed, at their Italian base in Faenza.

"More than twenty people have been made redundant at the Ledbury factory, UK, with immediate effect," said the spokesperson.

"They are from the administration division and the research and development division.

"This has no effect on the F1 racing programme or the two-seater programme. As for the F3000 programme things have to be looked into (regarding) what's going to happen for next year."

The cuts leave just under 60 staff at Ledbury, reducing Minardi's total workforce including their Faenza factory to around 160 people.

The Minardi redundancies follow recent similar cutbacks at the BAR and Jordan teams.