Ford ‘missed chance to sell Jaguar team’

THE growing controversy caused by Ford’s shock decision to pull the plug on Jaguar Racing last week yesterday took a fresh twist, with high-level sources revealing that the American car manufacturer did have the opportunity to sell the team earlier this year - but rejected it.

It has been revealed that Ford's Formula 1 chiefs agreed a deal with energy drinks company Red Bull for the creation of an All American F1 outfit in the middle of the season. However, Ford’s finance chiefs in the US surprisingly turned the deal down and, in the process, left Red Bull in a very embarrassing position.

A subsequent deal with Asian investors was also turned down by Ford’s financial powerbrokers - by which stage it became clear that Ford was only interested in getting out of F1 despite the message it had been giving the team and its prospective partners.

The announcement that Ford plans to quit F1 was made last Friday and has left the sport heading for crisis. There are fears that Jaguar will not be able to find a buyer in the short time left this year, while both Minardi and Jordan are facing up to the prospect of having no engine deals on the table for 2005 with engine specialist Cosworth Racing also up for sale.

In a worst case scenario, the F1 grid could be down to 14 cars for the start of next season.