FEBRUARY 12, 2003

The management of Jaguar

In the last few days some rather strange stories have emerged from former F1 driver John Watson who says that he was approached by Jaguar to be its sporting director but that he had decided that it was not a role he wanted to take on.

"I was flattered to even be considered for such a position but I've decided it is not the role for me," Watson told THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH. "I had a couple of meetings with Tony Purnell and other senior members of the new Jaguar set-up and they outlined a wide-ranging and exciting concept but I felt the terms and conditions of the job were not appropriate for me."

The news is something as a surprise as the Jaguar management said some months ago that there was no intention of having a high profile team boss and that it was going to rely on engineers. It seems now that there is a movement to give Jaguar a more public face. There have been suggestions that the job has also been offered to Martin Brundle, who is now commentating with the ITV television team at Grands Prix.