AUGUST 22, 2002
Red Bull and Jaguar
Mateschitz would prefer to find an American front man for the team and the only person with any recent Formula 1 experience would be Bobby Rahal, who was formerly in charge of Jaguar until being dumped a year ago. It is possible that Mateschitz might look at some of the other US team owners as some of them are looking around for things to do because of the sorry state into which open-wheeler in the United States is sinking as CART and IRL battle one another.
It is possible that Ford might like to keep a shareholding in the team and such a deal would make sense in terms of engine supply as Ford is unlikely to stop supplying a team in which it owns a share. Mateschitz's long-term plan is to run an American-based team with backing from a major US car manufacturer. Basing an F1 team in the United States is considered an act of complete folly by the F1 community but there is no reason that there could not be a team base in the USA with a European offshoot looking after the racing and testing operations.