This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: Cosworth Making Tracks Buying the Hype

Cosworth Making Tracks

The dynamometer facility that Cosworth has built in Northampton is another piece in the puzzle of the Ford challenge in Formula One - and a bit of a wake-up call to Jaguar, too.

For most of last season, Jaguar continued to fail to impress, setting up huge speculation about the future of the team. It finally resulted in Niki Lauda being replaced at the top, while some of the in fighting which has characterised the senior management has continued, and there is still shuffling going on. Whilst the continued uncertainty can't be demonstrated as damaging, it has done no favours to the work on the new car.

Cosworth continue to have a huge part to play. This season, they are supplying three teams: Jordan and Minardi are almost easy to supply, despite running different models, as the engines have been run before, making them a known quantity. There is no retooling required, and limited development intended, though the transition to a manual clutch and no traction control means that both units will need work. Whilst tolerances will be increased, a driver with sloppy clutch control is not that much harsher than the automatic gear shift, though the gearboxes are going to take something of a pounding.

For Jaguar, Cosworth have built a new engine. Being at the start of its cycle, there is plenty of room to develop, but even so, the unit is believed to be somewhere close to the front runners for power, economy and weight.

For this year, Ford is hoping to maximise marketing on both the Jaguar and Ford brands. Should the Jaguar team perform well, then the luxury car marque will benefit strongly; meanwhile, however Jaguar do, Jordan are expected to perform well in the midfield, as they have consistently done for a while now, so branding their engines 'Ford' offers visibility. Considering Ford are arguably the most successful engine manufacturer the sport has seen, it makes sense to pursue continuity by keeping the name visible.

As importantly, the performance of both Jordan and Jaguar through 2003 is a huge factor for the Ford's future in the sport. As it stands, there is continuing talk that selling off Jaguar to concentrate on the engine side is the best value for money marketing return the company can see, unless the marque starts winning races. Should that route be decided, selling Jaguar leaves Ford a player in the sport with a team that not only generally shows good promise, but offers a strong, positive brand in its own right.

Of course, it works both ways. If Jordan can't meet the expectations, they will find their contract with Ford won't be renewed. But that is nothing new to the team who have spent the last few years finishing the Constructors' Championships ahead of BAR, with first Mugen-Honda customer engines, then identical Honda units. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see if Jordan try and make history repeat, as they take on the works Ford powered Jaguar, using customer Ford power.

Buying the Hype

This is the time of year when every team's PR department is driving flat out to project an enthusiastic, positive vision of the future. The best part is, until the start of the season, most can claim their aspirations to a top four spot by the end of the year are realistic.

This time of the season is hugely busy, with constant design and development, components going to tests, and the results analysed, either to confirm they meet predictions, or establishing why they don't - and, of course, a media launch when the new model is ready to rock and roll.

Perhaps surprisingly, the PR image is normally reflected in the attitudes of the workers on the shop floor. Considering the effort that has gone into putting together a Formula One car, it is not a shock to discover that there is a reasonable level of optimism. People generally prefer to believe that their efforts, which clearly represent a step forward against the results of a year before, must represent some real progress on the track. Given the workload, information flow about the 'real' state of affairs is a mix of direct feedback from tests, and the general concept being pushed by the marketing people.

Unless there are serious problems at home, or the new car is a disaster from its first shakedown, it should be expected that team moral is high. Their hopes for the new season are tied up in the beast they have built, and are now developing, ironing out the reliability gremlins, and nibbling away with performance enhancing changes.

Perennial backmarkers Minardi raised eyebrows by going testing on Avon's F3000 tyres. The politics of failing to close the deal with Bridgestone before the end of last year, particularly as they were running Michelin tyres for December, make for interesting speculation, but the bottom line is no amount of PR can hide the fact that they are not getting in vital testing mileage. Acclimatising new drivers to the controls and confirming their seating position takes all of half a day; after that, the track time offers very low return for the expense of running there. So Minardi's test programme, which was already struggling to cover the work, is falling rapidly behind. It is no surprise to learn that the workforce is disappointed to discover their efforts are not driving the team forward.

Jordan, typically a hive of optimism, are encouraged by the signing of Ralph Firman. The new car has brought some concern - the sheer number of problems during the initial shakedown was frustrating, and has slowed up the testing programme. The wait for the second driver to sign has carried a worry about funds for the year: there was some understandable concern amongst the rank and file about the impact of failing to fill the budget. However, the new car is, basically, a real move in the right direction. After the troublesome introduction, some real mileage was put on it, and the performance was encouraging - demonstrating at least parity with Sauber, despite the lack of running time. Moral would be even better if there was about twice as much time planned for testing between now, and Melbourne. As much to the point, there is huge concern over the pace Toyota in particular are showing at tests, with more than a few team members sounding unconvinced, even as they dismiss the times as benefiting from a low fuel run.

One place that, traditionally, remains difficult to penetrate is McLaren, though their test team is moderately public. They are now working in parallel on the "old" car as the new is brought together. This has ensured a heavy workload that is keeping the team all too busy, and will do well into the new season - but the progress in tests has at least confirmed belief that things are going in the right direction. After working well with Michelin through the off-season, the car is set to provide the team with a solid basis for the fly-away races: it is a known quantity, with known characteristics, making it relatively easy to set up, and strongly reliable to boot. They are hoping to scare Williams with the current car, before being in a position to work on Ferrari with the new.

At Ferrari, the dominance shown at all the tests attended this year is certainly reflected. As the clear favourites for yet another shot at the Championships, there is a sense of continuity as the programme that brought three consecutive driver, and four constructor crowns home, should remain in place for at least the next couple of years. Of course there are frictions and politics - but they are undercurrents, as the oiled cogs of the Ferrari machine continues to roll; this is not even close to the outfit that Alain Prost would remember. Needless to say, if you must work for a Formula One team, Ferrari is a good place to be in a time of tight budgets.