No u-turn on Ford's F1 exit

Parry-Jones, speaking at a press conference in London to announce the acquisition of Jaguar Racing by energy drinks company Red Bull, said that a "decision like this is not taken lightly" and that too much effort had been put into Ford and Jaguar's exit strategy from F1 for the car maker to then make a u-turn later on.

"Right now, in those circumstances, in the foreseeable future, I would say there is no chance that Ford will go back into F1," he said. "I'm 53, I've been around this game now for about 35 years, and so in those sorts of time scales you can't say 'never'. But you don't take these kinds of decisions lightly. They are taken very carefully.

"Right now we have invested heavily in NASCAR, in Champ Car, World Rally, and with other formulae around the world. It would make no sense for us to go through all this careful management of the outcome of our decision to exit to then change our minds in a few years about the sport."

Parry-Jones pointed out however that Ford, which last won the world championship with Michael Schumacher and Benetton in 1994, had made a valuable contribution to grand prix racing over the years.

"We have a 35 year history of involvement in F1, so we are not exactly fly-by-night Johnny-come-latelys who get in and get out when it suits us," he said. "Thirty-five years of continuous involvement with a very rich legacy of contribution to the sport.

"Of course it's disappointing that we haven't been able to decide to make another 10 years of contribution to the sport, but I think we can take pride from the contribution we have made and the great champions and drivers that we have helped to make through our association with Cosworth in the sport. It's not without sadness that we are leaving."