Ford chiefs to decide whether to pull plug on Jaguar F1 team

The fate of the Jaguar Formula One team will be sealed this week as executives of its parent company, Ford, meet to decide whether to continue with the beleaguered motor racing outfit.

If Ford opts to pull the plug, it will mark the end of a failed three-year attempt to catapult Jaguar into the top tier of F1. It will also threaten 350 jobs at Jaguar's F1 base in Milton Keynes.

The decision will depend on the result of a month-long study into the team, led by the Ford vice-president Richard Parry-Jones. It is understood that Dieter Materschitz, founder of the energy drink Red Bull, has offered to buy 70 per cent of the Jaguar team for £50m. But Ford has consistently denied that the team is for sale.

This season Jaguar has scored just three points in the World Championship, despite having an estimated £100m budget at its disposal. Its performance at today's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps could be critical. If last year's display is anything to go by – both Irishman Eddie Irvine and Spain's Pedro de la Rosa failed to finish the race – then Jaguar's F1 adventure may prove to be short-lived.

Neither Ford nor Jaguar was prepared to comment, but sources close to the team indicated there was still a willingness from Ford to give it another chance.

But the decision has been complicated by the fact that Ford has also agreed to supply engines to rival F1 team Jordan next season.

Former Ford boss Jac Nasser led Jaguar's venture into F1, buying the Stewart Grand Prix team in June 1999 for a rumoured £50m. With the team rebadged as Jaguar the following year, and fronted by former ChampCar guru Bobby Rahal and by Niki Lauda, three times F1 world champion, there were high hopes for Jaguar. But flaws with the car's design and ructions within the team, resulting in the departure of Mr Rahal, have left Jaguar floundering near the back of the grid.

The team came close to staging a coup last season when it poached Adrian Newey, the highly respected chief designer of the McLaren team. But at the last minute Mr Newey got cold feet and decided to stay at McLaren.

Since Mr Nasser's dismissal, the new chief, William Clay Ford jnr, has taken a more critical view of the Jaguar team. Ford, the world's second-largest car manufacturer, reported a narrow second-quarter profit this year of $570m (£364m).