The so called F1 silly season is the time of the year where deals are made in advance of the following year as the media usually go on a feeding frenzy around little bits of often un verified rumors... all it takes is one driver to stop and chat with an old buddy in a rival team's garage...

The silly season peaks in the summer and is often going full swing by the time things get quiet on track with the 3 week summer break ( and testing ban). Drivers go back to their homelands, yachts and mansions and journalists are desperate to earn their paychecks... While each bit of news need to be taken with a grain of salt, they sometimes turn out to be true... so let's see where Jaguar Racing stands...

the drivers :

Eddie Irvine : Jaguar, Jordan or the beach in 2003 ? (picture Jaguar Racing)

For 2003 Pedro is in, ... Eddie... well... doesn't look too good right now for the outspoken Irishman with his contract up for renewal at the end of this season. Not only is he the oldest driver on the grid, and one of the best paid, but he has made it clear that he wasn't going to hang around much longer unless he's given a competitive car. After 3 races, the jury is still out on the revised R3B... terrible in the wet at Silverstone, pretty good at Magny Cours and so so at best in Germany. If he doesn't stay at Jaguar, he's likely to retire although he has been linked with a drive at Jordan where he'd replace Honda protege Takuma Sato. The young Japanese hasn't been impressive in his rookie year and with Honda possibly dropping Jordan to focus on BAR, there are little reason for Eddie Jordan to keep him.

So who would replace Irvine ? Australian rookie Mark Webber who tested for the team in June seems to hold the inside line to the seat even though Jaguar Racing just denied they're about to sign him. Webber has been impressive in the under funded Minardi and there is a strong possibility of a deal where Ford Cosworth would supply Minardi with engines, at a reduced cost, if they let Webber sign up for Jaguar...

the team ? :

Notice the question mark.... make that a big question mark as rumors keep emerging that Ford is very unhappy with the team's performance. Even though the official stand is that Ford is committed to to Jaguar Racing for the long term, one Ford financial executive was quoted as saying the the best way to raise the blood pressure at Ford's HQ is to mention Formula One... Most estimates do place Jaguar Racing annual budget right around the $ 150 million mark !

Nikki Lauda has been repeating that the future is secured until at least 2004, partly because of sponsoring deals but nevertheless Ford could be tempted to pull the plug as the image of the green Jaguars spinning, smoking, stalling and sitting in the back of the grid is highly embarrassing. Ford's boss Nick Scheele has given 12 weeks to the company's Chief Technical Officer Richard Parry Jones to come up with a plan to solve the team's problem and define what's needed to make Jaguar Racing podium material...

This year, Ford Cosworth had been supplying the same engines to Tom Walkinshaw's financially troubled Arrows team which has been performing better that Jaguar... But for 2003, the competition could be even more serious if not terminal as there is now a possibility of Ford itself jumping in Formula One through a 3 year deal with Eddie Jordan whose team would be renamed Ford - Jordan, powered by the same Ford Cosworth engine and featuring visible Blue Oval logos...

Despite problems with its Honda engine being low on power and unreliable, Jordan has been outperforming Jaguar and a Ford Jordan partnership will put even more pressure on Jaguar... Financially, such a partnership will be very beneficial for Ford as cost will be greatly reduced and brand exposure nearly the same. This is after all the route chosen by BMW and Mercedes in their deals with Williams and McLaren.

While nothing has been confirmed, there is a lot of substance to this latest twist first reported by the respected Autosport magazine.

Stay tuned... the silly season is far from over !

Posted: 8/01/2002