Formula One news
Jaguar hope for 2005 budget boost
13 September 2004Jaguar Racing managing director David Pitchforth is confident the team will have the budget to be a competitive outfit next season after rumours spread during the Italian Grand Prix that owners Ford are planning a cash injection for 2005. The future of the British-based team, which has been questioned in recent weeks, now looks safe after the management scotched speculation of a buy-out and promised a "major" announcement over their motorsport involvement before the end of this season.
Pitchforth said: "We already get a lot of money from Ford Motor Company. We got more money this year than we did last year. I have put in my budget for next season and we have a budget that will make us a competitive team."
Ford, who gain exposure in Formula One themselves through their engine supply deal with Jordan, has continually questioned Jaguar's participation in the sport. Their uncertainty came because of the amount of money required to compete on a competitive level with leading manufacturer teams like Ferrari and Renault.
World champions Ferrari spend a budget of around 600 million dollars a year to continue the incredible run of success that has seen them achieve six successive constructors' world titles. Jaguar's budget this year is estimated at a comparatively meagre 180 million dollars and their performances reflect their limited funding. This year, despite having highly-rated Australian Mark Webber in their car, they currently sit in seventh position out of the 10 teams on the grid with 10 points compared to Ferrari's record haul of 234.
Webber, who has scored all but three of Jaguar's points this year, can claim a best finish of sixth position in the German Grand Prix in July. The poor results have seen Jaguar claim just five points-finishes from the 15 races so far. That led to speculation that major backers HSBC would end their sponsorship deal at the end of this season along with Red Bull, who are currently a personal sponsor of Austrian driver Christian Klien.
But Pitchforth insisted there is still hope that HSBC will remain involved. "They are good sponsors and we continue to work with them to maintain them as sponsors," he said. "Those negotiations are ongoing and the speculation was based on a comment made at an HSBC board meeting. A member of HSBC was asked if he was happy with the recent race result and it had been preceded by a poor race result so he said 'no I wasn't happy about the weekend'. So that's a non story and there have been no announcements. "I am not confident either way (that HSBC and Red Bull will stay or leave the team) but its a negotiation and we have to do something that's good for the team. The budget involves lots and lots of things and we will just try to work through it."
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