Ford have given Jaguar three months to sort themselves out and become F1 contenders.

Ford chief executive Nick Scheele has said that the company will not tolerate Jaguar’s current underachievement for much longer. He has given the team 12 weeks to come up with a blueprint for future success. Scheele has asked Ford technical officer and vice-president Richard Parry-Jones to report back to him on the team.

He told Autoweek: "I have given Richard Parry-Jones 12 weeks to tell me what we have to do to fix it to become podium material. "It's fair to say that F1 is not doing for Jaguar's image what we had hoped. But if there is anyone going to get hold of the situation it will be Richard."

Ford are tightening their belts after a string of disastrous financial results and it was obvious that Jaguar would be taken to task before too long. The team has managed just one podium finish in two and a half seasons of F1

 

I do not think so. Eddie Irvine commented that the car is now better then ever - after the improvements.

But the team has never really succeedes to get anything. When the team was Stewart, it succeedes a lot better. Hope the team will succeed a bit better in the future.

 

Seems Jag will soon sign Webber:

"Minardi's Australian star Mark Webber is on the verge on joining Jaguar in 2003 as predicted in last week's AUTOSPORT magazine.

A close friend of the 25-year-old told the British press: "Mark feels very relaxed and it looks like the deal is all but tied up for next year. He's very confident of joining the team."

A Jaguar spokesman refused to confirm or deny that an announcement of a deal is imminent: "We have not yet confirmed our 2003 driver line up," he said.

Webber has impressed this season for Minardi, and did a good job in a one-off test for Jaguar at Barcelona last month. In Sunday's German GP he battled with the Toyotas and Eddie Irvine, the man he is likely to replace at Jaguar, before eventually retiring when his car lost hydraulic pressure.

Should Irvine lose his seat at Jaguar, his best option for 2003 appears to be Jordan. The team is expected to run the Ford-owned Cosworth engines - as used by Jaguar - next year, and the Ulsterman, who made his GP debut with Jordan in Japan 1993, would satisfy sponsor Benson and Hedges, which would like to see a Brit in one of the cars. "

Article is at

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=20085&s=5

But you have to register to view it.

 

My impression of the problems at Jag is:

too many chiefs, not enough Indians

 

Ford has turned up the heat apparently, now providing Cosworths to Jordan beginning next year, badged as Fords, not Jaguars.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that if Jordan goes well with the Fords - likely, I think that Sauber and Jordan are probably about equal in the best of the rest category.

I think after Jordan-Ford does better than Jag next season - the Jag team will disappear and the Jordan motors will be rebadged as Jaguar (that way it won't appear the "Jaguar" failed at F1).

My favorite story regarding Ford/Jag is that apparantly last year at a board meeting one of the execs asked the former chairman of Ford (I think his name was Jaques Nasser) who the highest paid employee of Ford was. The CEO responded, "I guess that would be myself." Then the exec told him, "No. It's somebody named Edward Irvine." At which point everyone at the meeting looked at each other and shrugged because they had no idea who that was.



BT

 

I heard that story with a twist, in that the Board members called him "Ernie Irvine," mixing his name with Ernie Irvin the NASCAR driver (who drove a blue oval as well).

Apparently, Ford spends as much in ALL OTHER FORMS OF MOTORSPORT as it does in it's WRC campaign, and spends more on F1 than the WRC campaign plus all other forms of motorsport combined. It's no wonder they're wondering where the results are.

 

I just read today on Autosport.com that Ford is planning to take a relatively big role in Jordan's sponsorship - similar to BMW and Williams. My guess is that Jag will be gone from F1 sooner rather than later. Maybe they'll return to sportscars (LeMans) racing - where historically, they belong.

Later, BT