Formula 1 News: Some interesting stuff

Ford had already mentioned that they were going to leave Formula 1 racing after the end of the 2004 season and many experts were thinking that it wouldn't be good for the image of the company in North America and especially in the USA where F1 made a comeback in 2000 (in Indianapolis) after leaving for many years. Ford had been providing engines for the Jaguar team which was already struggling. The merging of Jaguar-Ford for an F1 team had seen both companies establish high-hopes of making a "super-team" that would eventually become a contender in years to come. It never happened. So Ford left Jaguar and Jaguar was left with no engine and the loss of appetite for the racing game. This was leaving the F1 field with only 9 teams (18 cars racing).

Another problem was arising from Ford leaving F1. They were also providing engines for the Eddie Jordan's team (my favorite since 1998). Jordan has been struggling to find a good motorist to power his cars for a couple of years. Jordan had made it in the Top-3 of F1 with Mugen-Honda engines before Honda decided to make a return to F1 officially and powering both the BAR team and Jordan. An alliance that only lasted one season, leaving Jordan by themselves to find another engine. So, when Ford left, they were leaving not one, but TWO F1 teams withough engines and rumours were spreading as the fact that Jordan might retire from F1 since he had been losing money for a couple of years now and wasn't sure he could support the burden.

If Jordan had left, and with the loss of Jaguar, that would see F1 left with 8 teams and only 16 cars. To keep the field of cars at 20, F1 had informed team owners of the possibility of having 3 cars per team instead of 2, making it a 24 car field. But with F1 wanting the teams to lower the amount of their expenses, this was going the wrong way.

So news in the F1 world came to us yesterday in the form of all 10 teams remaining in F1 for the next season. How? Here's how: Red Bull, an energy drink company which has been sponsoring the Sauber F1 team for over 10 years now, was said to have bought the Jaguar team for 1$, with promises of 400 000 000$ (you saw right) in investments to help the team become a winner. They got the whole thing: They end up buying the whole team, the team headquarters as well as both wind tunnel facilities, all of which are stationed in the UK. With this change, Ford has decided to remain with the team which will now be known as Red Bull Racing and the Cosworth (Ford) engines will power the cars.

Ford-Cosworth will also be supplying the Minardi team. The Cosworth brand, sold about 10 days ago to Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven (co-owners of the Champ Car Series) is said to have an even brighter future in Formula 1 for years to come. Somehow, I doubt that.

As for Jordan, they are said to have signed a contract to receive engines from Toyota. I think that this is a very good upcoming for Jordan as well as Toyota. Toyota already has its own self-named F1 team in which they develop their engines but having 2 extra cars to make testing on and provide mechanical expertise will help them become a better team in the future. Although they are still a young team, they will surely rise to the heights of near-champions pretty soon. But with Jordan having a superior chassis than Toyota's, I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan was to finish higher than the Toyota team in the 2005 championship.

Finally, the current questions are:
- What of the Red Bull Sauber team? Is Peter Sauber screwed because his main sponsor left to start their own team?
- Jacques Villeneuve making a comeback to F1 in 2005 for the Sauber team
- Is Villeneuve getting kicked in the balls if Red Bull leaves Sauber?
- Does this mean it's the beginning of the end for Sauber's team even though sponsored by the Petronas company?
- Is Villeneuve doomed to crappiness for the next 2 years with Sauber?

This will be interesting to follow...