Jordan's Ford deal runs aground

Resistance within Ford's management appears to have put an end to the deal with Jordan, which would have pitched the Blue Oval into a head-to-head with its own Jaguar brand in Formula 1.

Instead of running Ford-badged V10s from the company's Cosworth engine specialist next year, Jordan may have to accept paying for a supply of the same motors instead.

In a statement issued today (Wednesday), Ford's group vice-president Richard Parry-Jones said: "There has been a great deal of media speculation in the past few days concerning the supply of Cosworth engines to F1 teams next year.

"As an engine supplier, Cosworth Racing is in discussion with teams about the possible supply of engines for next season. This is perfectly normal practice and in the event of any agreement, an official statement would be made through Cosworth Racing at the appropriate time."

The wording of that statement appears to rule out the chances of Ford name's returning to F1 for the first time since it took over the Stewart team and re-badged it Jaguar for 2000.

For more details on how the Jordan deal was scuppered, see this week's AUTOSPORT magazine, on sale from Thursday.