Cosworth nearing sale completion?

Ford chief Tony Purnell believes that the sale of engine company Cosworth, and the future of Jaguar, could be concluded in the near future. Ford announced in September that it was withdrawing from Formula One at the end of this season and that Cosworth and Jaguar would be sold. This caused consternation not only for the company and team but also for Jordan and Minardi, to whom Cosworth supply engines.

Purnell said things could be decided very shortly: "You've always got to be guarded but I think that the interest in Cosworth has been considerable," he told Reuters. "We're hoping that within a week or so we can more or less lean back on our chairs and say yes...the deal conceptually is struck."

"The market for Formula One race teams is thinner than for engine manufacturers. Cosworth make money, they are a good company from a business point of view. The market for race teams is thin, it's a huge commitment for people and its big money and we're entering a very critical week where it could go either way."

Purnell did not say who the buyer might be. Now that the FIA has issued technical regulations for next year and there is no change to engine capacity until 2006, Purnell confirmed that Cosworth has made an offer to Jordan to continue its engine supply, albeit on different terms.

"Given that the regulations are now completely understood for the coming year, a definite offer has gone out to Jordan," he said. "There's no difficulty in giving a similar thing to Minardi. Paul (Stoddart)'s relationship with Cosworth is very strong, so there's no issues."

"Of course, they are not free. So I suspect there are some significant difficulties yet," he added. "I don't want to quote the cost but its nothing like double. It's a commercial price."

"Supplying engines to a team is normally a marginal cost, you do all the work to supply your manufacturer's team and then you just look at the incremental cost of supply. Well, we're not in that situation so it's very different terms."