Jaguar bosses are optimistic in
Jaguar Racing interviews

Jaguar bosses, Neil Ressler and Jonathan Browning, talk to the Jaguar-Racing website just before the first GP of 2000.

"If we're good, we'll win..."

Jaguar Racing chairman Neil Ressler says Melbourne is just the beginning.

Neil Ressler is watching his two Cosworth-engined R1s run in anger for the first time in Melbourne during the Australian GP weekend in March 2000. Here, he describes his role within the team and shares his thoughts on Formula One to www.Jaguar-Racing.com.

Q: What is your role at Jaguar Racing?

"I'm chairman of Jaguar Racing and also of Cosworth Racing. My job in America with the Ford Motor Company is called chief technical officer, so I have a whole other list of headaches over there. But the racing takes up a far larger percentage of my time than my boss knows!"

Q: Your job has been to integrate the racing team within the Ford Motor Company. How much more is there to do?

"There's an opportunity to marshal the forces of Ford to assist in the task more than has been done in the past. We're really at the beginning of the trip, not the end. So I would expect more involvement behind the scenes of the technical resources of Ford, more financial support both for the racing team and for Cosworth. And if we're good we'll win, and if we're not, we won't."

Q: So how long will it take to get it all together?

"I'm not into predicting outcomes!"

Q: Formula One returns to the United States with September's grand prix in Indianapolis. Do you think the sport will finally catch on in America?

"I hope so. There are a lot of fans in the US, but the venues where F1 went in recent years were less than ideal. I haven't actually visited the circuit, but I've seen pictures and [Indianapolis boss] Tony George has talked to me about it a lot. I think there's a chance that it will be regarded as a good circuit, and we're going to do everything we can to make it a big success in America."

Q: What was your view of F1 prior to taking over as chairman of the team?

"I spent some time behind the scenes, even back in the late Eighties when Ford was with Benetton, and have continued in that sense through the Nineties. I see it now as an even tougher job. Winning in this business is really hard. I do not underestimate the size of the challenge."

Q: You've already sat on an FIA F1 Commission meeting. What were your impressions?

"I sat next to [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis and it was fine. There were lots of sticky issues to discuss, everybody had their chance to say what they thought, and I thought the results came out the way the conversations suggested they should." 

Jaguar's people power 

Good will is "flowing towards the team", says Jaguar boss Jonathan Browning 

Wherever its cars finish in the Australian Grand Prix, Jaguar Racing can at least be certain of one thing: the enthusiasm and support of its army of fans will continue to grow. The team has already awakened the kind of passion normally reserved for Ferrari in Formula One, and the green of Jaguar is ever-present in Melbourne. 

Jonathan Browning, Jaguar's managing director, has witnessed first-hand the passion the new team has created among racing fans all over the world. And as the team rolled out its cars for the first practice session in Melbourne, he spoke exclusively to www.jaguar-racing.com about realising his dreams of seeing a Jaguar on track at a grand prix.

Q: Are you pleased that all your plans have finally coming to fruition?

"It's been very exciting coming up to this weekend, starting in Frankfurt and working our way through to the launch at Lords and then here in Australia. You really feel the good will that is flowing towards Jaguar. There's a lot of enthusiasm, but we have to make sure that the expectations remain firmly rooted in reality, at least in terms of what we can achieve early on this season."

Q: What would be a good result for this weekend? 

"A good weekend would be to have a decent performance in qualifying and then finish the race. Normally in Australia if you finish the race you're in a reasonably good position. If we get through the race distance, that would be a good result."

Q: Obviously, the team have had a few problems in pre-season testing. Is it frustrating knowing that the first couple of races might not be representative of your true potential?

"That's the nature of F1 isn't it? The good thing is that the drivers and the team have had plenty of time to work on the car since the beginning of the year. We would have liked to have done more miles, but at least we're not putting the vehicles together for the first time."

Q: You mentioned the goodwill - what sort of reactions have you experienced?

"I travel around to a lot of different markets in different parts of the world, and the exciting thing is that it's not just the Jaguar loyalists who have been enthusiasts for many years that are wishing us and the team well, it's really coming form all sections of the population, all different ages. That's what F1 is really all about for Jaguar: broadening the field of consideration and getting people to think about Jaguar in a modern context."

Q: Will you get a buzz when you see green flags and hats in the stands this weekend?

"That will certainly give me the biggest buzz of all, the sense that Jaguar is spreading its customer base, particularly among the youngsters - getting them to think about Jaguar as a modern, competitive product that they want to support. That's what it's all about."

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