NOVEMBER 23, 2002

Balancing the books at Jaguar Racing

Jaguar Racing has been growing rapidly in the course of recent seasons as it struggles toJaguar Racing has been growing rapidly in the course of recent seasons as it struggles to compete with the other manufacturer-backed teams in Formula 1

Jaguar Racing has been growing rapidly in the course of recent seasons as it struggles to compete with the other manufacturer-backed teams in Formula 1 but budget cuts from Ford in Detroit has meant that the team has had to look at ways of cutting back on costs and the decision has been taken to lay off around 60 members of staff. This is the latest in a series of teams which have cut back because of the current financial climate. These include BAR, Jordan and Minardi.

The loss of staff affects the performance of any F1 team although the growth of Jaguar Racing has been rather haphazard in recent years because of a series of different management regimes and so there may be a little more leeway for trimming back than in some teams which have remained leaner.

The news will come as a blow to the already depressed F1 job market with large numbers of F1-trained personnel currently looking for employment.