JUNE 2, 2001

Newey to stay at McLaren after-all

IN a bizarre reversal, Adrian Newey has confirmed that he will be staying with the McLaren-Mercedes team - after Jaguar Racing had announced on Friday morning that the designer would be joining the team when his current contract was up in August of 2002.

McLaren also announced that they have extended Newey's contract for three additional years, now running until 2005.

Newey said, "I am delighted to confirm my intention to remain at McLaren International and recognize that there are many exciting opportunities ahead. I regret any speculation which has been caused by my conversations with my good friend Bobby Rahal. I appreciate that I came very close to working with him again and have agonized over this decision. I informed him of my decision to remain at McLaren some time prior to the release issued this morning by Jaguar Racing but I understand that the mechanisms of this release made it impossible to stop and I am sorry for any embarrassment that it will have caused to my friends at Jaguar and McLaren."