SEPTEMBER 25, 2002

Ford to make an announcement this weekend?

The Ford Motor Company top men meet in Paris on Thursday to finalize plans for Formula 1 next year - and all the signs are that the decision will be to push ahead with the Jaguar Racing program as planned. The meeting will include Robert Parry Jones, Ford's Chief Technical Officer and his boss, another Englishman, Nick Scheele. Both men are known to be keen on the company's F1 involvement but they will still have to answer any questions raised by those who wish to keep costs down as the F1 program will cost Ford around $100m a year.

Once the decision is made there seems little point in keeping it secret so it is logical that there will be an announcement at Indianapolis.