Former BAR Technical Head Oastler Joins Jaguar

Australian Malcolm Oastler is joining Jaguar next week as engineering director, the Formula One team confirmed on Friday.

Oastler, 43, was formerly chief designer and technical director of rivals British American Racing (BAR) but lost his job on March 21 in a restructuring of that team.

A Jaguar spokeswoman said during the build-up to Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix that Oastler, who became chief designer at BAR in 1998 before graduating to a broader technical role until Geoff Willis arrived from Williams, would start on Monday.

Guenther Steiner will remain in his role as acting technical director and Rob Taylor has also joined the team as a designer from threatened Arrows. The arrival of Oastler was welcomed by Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine, who worked with the Australian in Formula 3000.

"I think Malcolm can raise the average ability in the team," he said. "I think Malcolm was very let down by certain people at BAR. He's not a stupid guy. I think he can bring something to this team. We don't have a technical director, we don't have a designer."