Rahal says Jag tech team lacked aggression

The Big Cat's Formula 1 design squad has undergone a massive restructuring in recent months culminating with the replacement of technical director Gary Anderson with Steve Nichols last Friday.

The ex-CART boss also believes that the chairman of Jaguar Racing, Neil Ressler had been thinking about replacing Anderson since the beginning of the year.

"I saw a need for change in that role at the end of the year," said Rahal, "but certainly Neil [Ressler] and others saw it throughout. I think there was a need for a change in leadership.

"Racing has changed quite a bit, and certainly I felt that in engineering we wanted a much more aggressive approach. We wanted engineers who wanted to beat the other engineers. I just felt, and Neil felt, that we needed a new urgency, that I did not necessarily see at the time."

Anderson is currently on holiday and the teams two principal race engineers, Robin Gearing and Andy Le Fleming have also been bought out of their contracts and sent on gardening leave.

"When you're trying to change the culture," Rahal continued, "you really have to change the leadership. If you want to instil a new motivation, it really comes down to the leadership having to change. The rank and file follows the example and direction that the leadership gives."

Stewart Grand Prix became Jaguar Racing for the 2000 season and since then Jaguar bosses have brought in new recruits to take over three of the team's key positions, namely Mark Handford as chief aerodynamicist, Rahal and most recently Nichols.

For full Bobby Rahal Q&A, click here.