^Mick^
25-07-2002, 16:06
JAGUAR have received an ultimatum from parent company Ford, who have threatened to pull out of the sport if the team does not produce results soon.
Ford's chief executive Nick Scheele has given them 12 weeks to improve the team's performance or else.
"I have given Richard Parry-Jones 12 weeks to tell me what we have to do to fix it to become podium material,' Scheele told Autoweek.
"It's fair to say that F1 is not doing for Jaguar's image what we had hoped, but if there is anyone going to get hold of the situation, it will be Richard."
Team boss Niki Lauda is coming under increasing pressure to turn the team's fortunes around as soon as possible or face being axed.
Meanwhile, Ford's financial officer, Allan Gilmour, revealed there are divisions within the parent company on whether they should continue in F1.
"This is a high visibility sport related to automotive products," sportbusiness.com quoted Gilmour as saying. "The other view is no, we don't need to be doing this. It is interesting and exciting, but it's terribly expensive."
Ford's chief executive Nick Scheele has given them 12 weeks to improve the team's performance or else.
"I have given Richard Parry-Jones 12 weeks to tell me what we have to do to fix it to become podium material,' Scheele told Autoweek.
"It's fair to say that F1 is not doing for Jaguar's image what we had hoped, but if there is anyone going to get hold of the situation, it will be Richard."
Team boss Niki Lauda is coming under increasing pressure to turn the team's fortunes around as soon as possible or face being axed.
Meanwhile, Ford's financial officer, Allan Gilmour, revealed there are divisions within the parent company on whether they should continue in F1.
"This is a high visibility sport related to automotive products," sportbusiness.com quoted Gilmour as saying. "The other view is no, we don't need to be doing this. It is interesting and exciting, but it's terribly expensive."