Jaguar partnership boosts Williams F1 performance
AN alliance with Jaguar over the development of a new hybrid supercar is set to boost the medium term performance of the Williams Grand Prix racing team, its founder and team principal said today.
The partnership with Jaguar for the development of the C-X75 was announced earlier this year.
Announcing a 5% increase in the team’s interim revenue, Sir Frank Williams said: “The first half of 2011 shows momentum in our diversified growth, building on the foundations we laid in 2010.
“Our new partnership with Jaguar Land Rover was followed by an exciting alliance announced with Renault, which will further strengthen our medium term performance both on and off the track.”
The Formula 1 team said earnings had risen to £47.3m (2010: £45m) in the first six months of the year. Core pre-tax profit rose to £2.9m (2010: £1.5m) and earnings per share were up 49% to 19.31p (2010: 12.98p).
The company also announced a number of key appointments in support of the Jaguar project.
The most senior has seen former Jaguar Cars managing director Mike O’Driscoll join the board as a non-executive director.
Mr O’Driscoll is now chairman of Jaguar Heritage, and serves on the Global Advisory Board of JMI, a motorsport marketing company.
He retired as managing director at Jaguar Cars in March of this year, a position he had held since 2007. Mr O’Driscoll started his career at British Leyland with Jaguar Rover Triumph as a business student. He held various positions in Finance, Product Development and Marketing, prior to his move to North America as Marketing & Product Planning manager for Jaguar Cars in 1987. In 1992 he was appointed US Sales Manager, a position he held until 1995.
During the next four years Mr O’Driscoll held a number of senior management positions at Ford Motor Company in the US, prior to his appointment as President Jaguar Cars North America. He was also President of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover’s North American subsidiary from 2001 until 2007.
Mr O’Driscoll was born in Coventry and has an MBA from the University of Warwick. He now lives in Washington DC.
