Jaguar have just pulled out of F1
 

This very moment, Jag have just announced that they are pulling out of F1, as of next year!

More details as they are released....

It appears Ford is cutting cost and going back to its core products.

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23210,00.html

Yep, there are now worries about the Ford Rally Team!

From what I've heard Ford themselves are going to start an F1 team. Just rumors though.

I think this is a bad decision, and bad news for F1 in general. F1 needs teams to to be interesting and in the last few years we only saw the lost of teams. :(

Maybe Audi would like to try and have a go at it. :D

Definetely bad new for the only swede in F1 :(

But to be honest jaguar sucked pretty bad.

well as i stated in the rumours section, ford were considering axeing jaguar F1 and Ford WRC and making just one Ford branded F1 team. Looks like they may be going ahead with this. If so i think it should be great for F1 as ford will be able to pump alot more money into their team than they could with jaguar

hopefully ford will go into f1, but personally i would love to see a lot more companies going in. audi is definately a good idea, but if lamborghini went in that would be even better!

good ridance

Here's a detailed report:

LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Jaguar will pull out of Formula One at the end of 2004, with parent company Ford's engine maker Cosworth also up for sale.

Ford's bombshell announcement on Friday has huge ramifications for the glamour sport, already facing an uncertain future with carmakers threatening to establish a rival championship. Cosworth also supplies engines to the struggling Jordan and Minardi teams.

"We (Ford) are withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the season," Ford vice-president Richard Parry-Jones told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Parry-Jones, in charge of Ford's F1 programme, said the U.S. car giant could no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in Formula One and had taken the "difficult decision" to quit.

Ford earlier announced a reorganisation of its loss-making Jaguar car division, with plans to cut 1,150 jobs from its main plant in Coventry, England.

One of the most evocative names in motorsport but better known as a Le Mans sportscar marque, Jaguar entered Formula One in 2000 after Ford took over the Stewart team founded by three times world champion Jackie Stewart.

They are yet to win a grand prix and have gone through numerous changes of leadership since Stewart stood down as the team principal before the start of the 2000 season.

Parry-Jones said Jaguar could not compete dollar-for-dollar with German rivals BMW and Mercedes, partners to Williams and McLaren, and it was not in Jaguar's long-term interests to be at the back end of the grid.

World champions Ferrari, the team of Germany's all-conquering Michael Schumacher, and new arrivals Toyota have estimated budgets in excess of $200 million a year.

"Our focus now is on finishing the 2004 season and securing the future of the F1 business under new ownership," he said, adding that there were a number of interested parties.

He could not guarantee a sale would go ahead. "If it does not, we would be forced to face a closure scenario but we're not thinking about that at the moment," he said.

TOO EXPENSIVE
"I think both Jaguar Racing and Cosworth are both very attractive," said Parry-Jones.

"The Formula One team is very lean and efficient. For those who do want to get into F1, there is no better opportunity than a blue chip team like this."

Parry-Jones would not comment on the future of Ford's world rally championship team or involvement in other branches of motorsport worldwide.

He said the sport, where most of the revenues go to commercial rights holding company SLEC set up by Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, had simply become too costly.

"It is so expensive to be successful in Formula One," he said. "The money the sport generates is not distributed equitably to the various stakeholders."

Parry-Jones said progress on a fairer share-out had been too slow and Ford's decision was irrevocable, even if Ecclestone were to offer more of the revenues.

"This is a clear decision," he said. "The opportunity for that to happen is behind us."

FINANCIAL CLOUT
Ecclestone said Jaguar did not have the financial clout to be major Formula One players and they should have quit last year.

"It was inevitable and wasn't really a shock to me," Ecclestone told Reuters. "They couldn't really afford to be running around at the back of the grid with the likes of Jordan."

Parry-Jones said he had spoken to Jordan and Minardi, reassuring them that this year's engine contracts would be respected.

This year the Milton Keynes-based Jaguar team have operated on a tight budget, bringing in much-needed funds by signing Red Bull-backed Austrian rookie Christian Klien to partner Australian Mark Webber.

They are seventh in the 10-team championship, a point ahead of Toyota, with three races remaining.

Ford's involvement in Formula One spans decades. Their engines powered Lotus to the 1968 constructors' championship and subsequently won titles with teams such as Matra, Tyrrell, McLaren and Williams.

They have won 176 races since 1967 as an engine provider.

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Shame really, i always thought they had a nice colour scheme :lol:

for sale... lets put our money together and make them an offer they cannot refuse!!

$250.00!!

ummm... why would Ford shut down Jaguar and start a new F1 team? Ford is Jaguar.

Again, that makes no sense. Rebranding the team has absolutely no effect on how much money Ford can put into an F1 operation. Besides, it makes more sense to enter F1 under the Jag brand rather than Ford.

Haha add £10 in from me as well!

well this is sad, but will they still be making engines? or will toyota start shipping them out?

Of course it will have en effect, jaguar F1 is promoting jaguar, and is only a small section of ford, having fords own brand as an F1 team will surely allow them to put more money into it as ford as a whole is much bigger than just jaguar on its own.

As for the engines, they're labelled as ford but technically cosworth make them, and jordan use them too so i dont see any reason why they shouldnt stop making eninges.