Stewart Confident About New Jaguar Structure

Former World Champion and member of Jaguar's board of directors Jackie Stewart is confident that the new structure of the team will help them turn things around and be successful in the future.

Ford's vice president Richard Parry-Jones announced today that Niki Lauda was stepping down as team principal, 21 months after the Austrian joined the American car manufacturer as head of their Premium Performance Group (PPG) in February 2001.

The 53-year-old took over from American Bobby Rahal as Jaguar team principal six months later and oversaw the team's efforts in the last few races of last year and the whole of the 2002 season just ended.

Lauda's departure means Jaguar are now searching for their fifth team principal since January 2000, after former World Champion Jackie Stewart, Neil Ressler, Bobby Rahal and Lauda himself.

Lauda will be replaced at the top of PPG by Tony Purnell, another member of the Jaguar team hierarchy, and Stewart was confident that he will be able to turn things around at the Milton Keynes team.

"The lack of success in the last two years has been from far too many management changes," said Stewart during the press conference. "That has not been good. I think what Richard Parry-Jones is trying to do now is to create the future. And I think the future does not lie in finding a new superstar guru. That's not going to be the future of the sport.

"Most of you haven't heard of Tony because he's a backroom person - he comes from the technical side. That is the future of F1. The future lies with millions and millions of dollars spent on talented technicians, on really good people. Not on a single superstar. Tony is a technologist.

"With all due respect to Niki and me, we were not technologists, we were racing drivers, we couldn't motivate the technical staff correctly, if you want to take on the big boys, that is the way to do it. I don't think that you're going to see a lot of team owners or team principals or appointments who are just racing drivers anymore.

"I couldn't do it, Alain Prost couldn't do it. Alain ran into the many problems which Richard Parry-Jones's future plans are set to avoid."

Jaguar, with just eight points, finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship last season and have replaced highly-paid drivers Briton Eddie Irvine and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa with Australian Mark Webber and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia for 2003.

Jaguar entered F1 in 2000 after buying Stewart's eponymous team but have never won a race despite a substantial financial investment and several changes in key personnel. Ford reiterated their commitment to the team ahead of the U.S. Grand Prix in September, but 40 to 60 redundancies were announced last week.