was a
Formula One team that competed in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship from 2000 to 2004. It was formed from the purchase by
Ford of
Jackie Stewart 's
Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team in June
1999 . Ford renamed the team Jaguar Racing as part of its global marketing operations to promote their
Jaguar premium car company. However, during the years of Ford's ownership, the team was unable to revive its performances of 1999.
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The team in 2000 was managed by Wolfgang Reitzle, who was then head of
Ford 's Premier Automotive Group. The extra funding and publicity brought by becoming Ford's own team were obvious from the first race of the year. The team hired 1999 world championship runner up
Eddie Irvine to partner former Stewart driver
Johnny Herbert in an all UK team. Unfortunately this did not guarantee further success. The results that season did not match the results that
Stewart had been able to achieve in 1999. Reitzle stepped down and was replaced by American Racing champion and successful team owner
Bobby Rahal for 2001.
2001 did not see an improvement in results, and appointment of 3 time FIA F1 World Champion
Niki Lauda in the middle of the year did not help team morale, with the team sliding further back in the field. An abortive attempt to bring Mclaren's current technical director
Adrian Newey to Jaguar further destabilised the team, and conflict between both
Rahal and
Lauda led to
Rahal 's resignation.
2002 was even worse under
Lauda 's stewardship, with only a resurgence later in the year in terms of results.
Ford 's board of directors were beginning to have major issues with the costs and benefits of running the team in Formula 1, especially as it did not feature the parent company brand. Funding was reduced for 2003.
Lauda and 70 other staff were made redundant, and a 2 year timeframe was given to show possible benefits.
2003 saw an improvement of form for the team, directed by
John Hogan , as it benefitted from good management and a more efficient usage of resources (in particular, using a wind tunnel near the factory compared to one in California). 2004 saw a stabilisation of results, but the team was unable to challenge for points on a consistent basis. Jaguar's Formula One parent company, Ford, issued a polite ultimatum as part of a reduction in sport involvement internationally. In particular, because Jaguar did not advertise the core Ford brand, there was little return of value from the enormous amount of money invested, so funding was reduced from Ford itself. Ford chose to sell the operation near the end of
2004 despite a more consistent showing in its previous two years. In mid-November 2004, energy drink company
Red Bull confirmed that they had purchased the Jaguar Formula One team from Ford as an ongoing outfit. The new team is named
Red Bull Racing and used the chassis and engine that would have been Jaguar's 2005 Formula 1 challenger for its first season.
Ironically, in Jaguar's final season, the team received the most publicity when two of the team's mechanics, having won an inflatable donkey from the movie ,
Bernie Ecclestone ,
Max Mosley , much of the sport's management, and every driver except
Michael Schumacher signed the donkey, and the mechanics announced their intention to auction it on
EBay and donate the proceeds to charity. For the
2004 Monaco Grand Prix ,
Jaguar 's cars were fitted with newly designed nose cones to promote the film
Ocean's Twelve . Steinmetz diamonds worth in excess of $250,000 USD were attached to the nose of each car, one of which allegedly went missing after
Christian Klien 's first lap crash.
In summary,
Jaguar 's attempt at Formula 1 on the track was below standard for reported amount of money that
Ford put in. Zero wins, zero pole positions, two podiums, a handful of points. Off the track the team attracted publicity for the wrong reasons. In Jaguar's five-year existence, it withstood three management shakeups, often with public conflicts between the individuals involved and only toward the end of its existence did it achieve a stable management and technical setup. It was a sad end to what people were predicting in 1999 to be the Ferrari team in 'British Racing Green'.
Drivers included
Eddie Irvine from 2000 - 2002,
Johnny Herbert in 2000,
Luciano Burti for a few races in 2001 and the Austrian GP in 2000,
Pedro De La Rosa in 2001 and 2002,
Antônio Pizzonia in 2003 until Hockenheim,
Mark Webber in 2003 and 2004
Justin Wilson from Hockenheim to the end of 2003 and
Christian Klien in 2004.
- 2000 — 4 points — 9th place
- 2001 — 9 points — 8th place
- 2002 — 8 points — 7th place
- 2003 — 18 points — 7th place
- 2004 — 10 points — 7th place
