El futuro de Jaguar Opciones

[revolutionman]

Como Juan Palomo, yo me lo guiso, yo me lo como:

Más declaraciones de Irvine tras la carrera:

En terra http://www4.terra.es/F12002/gp/gp_declarac...11,1789,00.html
P: Este podio va a ser único o el buen momento de Jaguar se va a plasmar en las dos últimas pruebas en Indianápolis y Suzuka.
R: Por supuesto que hoy hemos tenido más suerte que los Williams, pero creo que en USA no se nos van a dar mal del todo las cosas. Tenemos un buen motor y los neumáticos funcionan bien. Si conseguimos estar en parrilla entre los diez primeros tendremos opciones de estar en la zona de puntos. Claro que me gustaría tener otro podio pero también me conformo con algun punto.

A que suena bien?
Si os acordais, despues de lo de Australia, a nadie se le ocurrió decir que el coche iba bien y que estarían entre los 10 primeros...

las cosas no son como empiezan, sino como terminan

[rosadof1]

Más especulaciones sobre la continuidad de Jaguar-Ford más allá del 2003. Sacado de la web: www.planet-f1.com :

Ford Gives You Less...? 02/12/02

Frank Hopkinson on the no-smoke-without-fire theory behind an F1 rumour

At the weekend I got an e.mail from Robert-Jan Bartunek, the publisher of Forza Minardi.com who I’ve known ever since Rivals.net helped run independent F1 sites.
Robert-Jan speaks fluent German and Dutch and he’d rapidly translated a piece doing the rounds on the German websites. The gist of the rumour was that Ford were about to opt out of F1 and that 2003 was going to be the final year for Jaguar. The rumour put the likely supply of Cosworth engines to Minardi at risk.

I didn’t run the story on Planet-F1 because it didn’t have any grounds, other than it being someone’s opinion. Also, with Rick Parry-Jones appearing at a meeting with Jackie Stewart and other Ford executives last week, I thought the timing was wrong. Jackie Stewart is a Ford man through and through, right from his racing days, and must have contacts at every level of the company. If he’d have got the slightest rumour that Ford were getting cold feet he wouldn’t have been appearing before the press last week.

As it turns out, we’ve just had the announcement that Cosworth are going to be supplying Minardi in 2003. Which is good news because it means Jos Verstappen could be lured back to the grid. A combination of Jos and Justin Wilson will make Minardi look like ‘Land Of The Giants’ compared to Jordan’s likely pairing of Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato. (I’m not small-driver-phobic, but I do get a bit worried about having a grid full of short guys. I want to believe that F1 has the best 20 drivers in the world out there, not the best 20 short drivers in the world.)

However back to the main issue.

With the teams now negotiating with the banks who own (SLEC) F1’s TV rights, it would seem to be the worst moment to opt out of F1 for a manufacturer. Because the threat of forming a breakaway GPWC series is finally bearing fruition. Should the teams start to get more of the revenue, as Luca Montezemolo and Ron Dennis are constantly pressing for, then F1 could be a value-for-money promotional tool. Toyota say they’ve achieved 20% better brand awareness in Germany from one season in F1 and that through finishing second last in the constructors' championship.

So this would be the worst time of all for Ford to leave, because they could be on the brink of a proper redistribution of F1’s riches.

For the sport, though, Ford’s departure would be profound. Because through the strength of Cosworth engines they have allowed underfunded teams such as Arrows to compete.

Asiatech have gone bust. BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Renault and Toyota don’t want to share their engines and Ferrari aren’t keen on supplying three teams any more. If Ford disappeared – Jaguar would be gone and both Jordan and Minardi would struggle to attract sponsorship without a competitive engine.

There’s still no question that the loss of Ferrari, should it ever happen, would affect F1 the most. But the loss of Ford would be a crippling blow. Ferrari can insulate themselves because they have a high cost, high glamour product to sell in Ferrari and Maserati road cars. Parent company Fiat may be losing money hand over fist, but Ferrari is making it.

The same can’t be said of Ford and Jaguar.

With the Technical Working Group meeting this week, perhaps there is some strategic timing in the rumour about Ford. Costs are a major issue in F1 right now and they will be discussed on December 4th. The cost of losing Ford and Cosworth would be very high indeed.

Saludos.