Ford Boss: Lauda Can be Driver Mentor

Ousted Jaguar boss Niki Lauda can become a talent spotter and driver mentor for the Formula One team, a top Ford executive said today.

Richard Parry-Jones, who oversees Jaguar's Formula One activities, announced Lauda's dismissal today but said he hoped the former World Champion would stay on as a special advisor.

"I have asked Niki Lauda to continue to work with us in a role of senior special advisor. One of the roles under that category is very much around drivers, driver selection and driver development, spotting and mentoring."

Parry-Jones said he was hopeful that Lauda, who has been with the team since 2001 and was formerly an advisor to Ferrari, would accept the offer. The Austrian told his country's radio that he was considering the invitation. The team have yet to name a replacement for him as principal.

Lauda was the team's fourth principal since Jaguar's Formula One debut in 2000 and Parry-Jones agreed that the decision to replace the Austrian would be unsettling at a time when stability was required.

"You're caught on the horns of a dilemma," he said. "If we don't have the right ingredients in place, including the key leadership position, to deliver the technical competency at the very high level that we are talking about as necessary to be truly successful in this sport, you have got to do something.

"You have to make a change. And I recognise that in making that change you introduce more instability."

Parry-Jones said he had decided it was better to "suffer the downside that there will be another round of instability which we will have to manage our way through."

He was also confident that the new R4, to be launched on January 13, would be a significant improvement on the team's previous offerings. Jaguar have yet to win a race and finished last season seventh overall after starting the year with a woefully under-performing car.

The team have suffered regular changes in technical personnel and are starting 2003 with an all-new driver line-up that ranks as the least experienced in Formula One with Australian Mark Webber and Brazilian debutant Antonio Pizzonia.

Parry-Jones said he expected it to take between three and four years for Jaguar to get on the podium regularly but he praised the team's new drivers.

"Mark Webber is a very fine young driver. We're looking forward to working with him. His relationship will build with the entire team very quickly. He has exceptional promise and he's come in at just the right time for us, in terms of his career and the development of our vehicle."