McLaren re-signs Newey; Jaguar says he's ours

After a day of incredible twists and turns in the saga, McLaren released a statement saying that the 42-year-old Englishman will remain as its technical director, but will also be given the opportunity to pursue other 'sporting technical challenges' in the future.

Earlier in the day (Friday), Jaguar had released an official statement saying that Newey would become the team's Chief Technical Officer from August 2002 and had signed a contract accordingly.

Jaguar's deal was believed to be for five years and worth around £3.5 million per season. McLaren is believed likely to have at least matched that figure with immediate effect.

McLaren's statement said: "Adrian Newey has confirmed his commitment to stay at McLaren for a period of three years beyond the terms of his existing contract, which expires in August 2002.

"West McLaren Mercedes and Adrian very much regret the confusion, which will have been caused by the staements released earlier today. However, both parties are delighted to continue this successful relationship which has developed over the past four years. During the extended term of Adrian's contract with the team, he will remain technical director responsible for the design of the 2002 and 2003 cars. It is anticipated that during this time, Adrian and the team will evaluate other sporting technical challenges, which they may pursue in the future."

Following McLaren's announcement that Newey would be staying at Woking, Jaguar countered, saying: "Jaguar Racing signed a contract with Adrian Newey in good faith. In light of this afternoon's statement from McLaren International it is, therefore, a matter for further discussion."

With the wording of the McLaren statement, speculation is mounting that Newey will cease designing McLaren's F1 cars at the end of his existing contract, and will then be allowed to pursue projects of his own choice in order to remove him altogether from the F1 talent pool and the clutches of other teams. McLaren almost embarked on a Land Speed Record project in 1994 - could this be resurrected?

In a statement by Newey contained in the McLaren release, the designer implies that the sending out of the Jaguar release was done in error - something vehemently denied by the Milton Keynes-based squad.

Newey said: "Whilst I am delighted to confirm my intention to remain at McLaren International and recognise that there are many exciting opportunities ahead, I regret any speculation which has been caused by my conversations with my good friend (Jaguar CEO) Bobby Rahal.

"I appreciate that I came very close to working with him again and have agonised over this decision. I informed him of my decision to remain at McLaren some time prior to the release issued this morning by Jaguar Racing. But I understand that the mechanisms of this release made it impossible to stop and I am sorry for any embarassment that it will have caused to my friends at Jaguar and McLaren."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis added: "Clearly Adrian has been looking for fresh challenges and he has now concluded that we can provide them from within our organisation. I know how competitive Adrian is and I am very comfortable that he will continue to apply his usual energy to our programme."

Newey's F1 track record so far includes four drivers' and five constructors' titles with the Williams team, plus two drivers' and one constructors' title with McLaren. His designs are regarded as the benchmark for the sport, although recent cars have also been criticised for an alleged fragility at the beginning of their development cycles.

See how the Newey saga unfolded... click on the links below.

Now McLaren claims Newey will stay

Jaguar pounces! Design ace Newey confirmed

Jaguar set to lure design ace Newey