Zanardi Considered for Jaguar Job

Former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi is set to be handed a post at Jaguar Racing this season despite falling off the shortlist for their vacant sporting director position.

Zanardi, who lost both his legs in a CART accident one and a half years ago, has astonished the motor racing world with his bravery and courage, and Jaguar believe he could help the team fight their way up the Grand Prix grid.

"From their times together in CART Tony Purnell (head of Ford's Performance Division) and Malcolm Oastler (Jaguar chief designer) have deep admiration and respect for Alex," Jaguar spokesman Nav Sidhu said.

"There is no intention of recruiting him as a sporting director but we have not ruled out working together in the near future. His attitude to life complements the culture at Jaguar Racing."

The team have decided not to appoint a team principal to replace Niki Lauda, who was sacked after a disastrous 2002 season, and have instead chosen to separate the technical side of the team from the commercial side.

They have set up a new position for a sporting director and, after narrowing the list down to just a couple of names, they will reveal the identity of their latest recruit on Monday.

A source close to the negotiations confirmed that former Formula One stars Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell and Nigel Mansell had all been contacted about the role but said that they are now all off the shortlist. A return to the helm by former chairman Sir Jackie Stewart was also ruled out and the source added: "The person will be someone who is recognisable to the average person on the street.

"They are looking for someone to be a public figurehead so they want someone who is commercially very astute and has a good solid understanding of Formula One commercially speaking. It is not a job to 'run Jaguar Racing' - it will be a direct outward-facing position with no input whatsoever into the engineering or technical side of the team.

"I believe the team is down to a couple of people and they are not all that far from making an announcement - but it will definitely not be a former driver from any area of motorsport."