Newey Confirms He is Staying at McLaren

The McLaren team has issued the following statement, we bring it as is:

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 statements 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.

It is now very much the priority of Adrian and the team to concentrate on winning more races and the Championship in 2001, whilst making the best preparation for the 2002 campaign.

Ron Dennis, Chairman & CEO, TAG McLaren Group: "Clearly Adrian has been looking for fresh challenges, 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."

Adrian Newey, Technical Director, McLaren International: "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 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 embarrassment that it will have caused to my friends at Jaguar and McLaren."