This particular car, R4-05, was raced from the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring at the end of June 2003 for the rest of the season and was used first by Antonio Pizzonia and then by Justin Wilson, who finished eighth in the American Grand Prix at Indianapolis, to score one point, so altogether Jaguar had eighteen points and was seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

After having been absent from motor racing for almost ten years since the last of the TWR Jaguar XJR prototype sports cars finished their successful run in 1992, at the Frankfurt Motor Show on 14 September 1999 it was announced that the existing Stewart-Ford Formula One Grand Prix team (bought by Ford in June 1999) would become the Jaguar Racing team. Naturally the return of Jaguar to racing, especially in Formula One, attracted a great deal of interest, both from the media and from many fans.

At first managed by Sir Jackie Stewart and his son Paul, the new team was based at Milton Keynes. The first Jaguar single-seater racing car, the R1, was developed from the existing Stewart-Ford, and was unveiled at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on 25 January 2000. The debut race for the new team came in the Australian Grand Prix in March 2000. The engine was a Cosworth V10. Major sponsors were the HSBC Bank and Beck’s Bier, also Hewlett-Packard, AT&T and others, later joined by EDS and Dupont.

For the fourth season in 2003, the main drivers were Mark Webber (Australia) and Antonio Pizzonia (Brazil), although by mid-season Pizzonia took a back seat in favour of a newcomer to the team, Justin Wilson (Britain). The best results achieved during the 2003 racing season were sixth places for Webber in the French and Hungarian Grand Prix, and a number of seventh places, which gained him 17 points in the Drivers’ Championship.

The R4 car for the 2003 season was in effect a developed version of the original design.