Jaguar’s $300,000 diamond still missing after Klien’s 2004 Monaco crash

By the time Jaguar communications director Nav Sidhu could inspect Christian Klien’s car, the $300,000 diamond that had been fixed to its nose was nowhere to be seen. Klien had crashed on the opening lap of the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix; 22 years on, the stone remains missing.

The diamond was part of a promotion for the heist film *Ocean's Twelve*. Sidhu arranged for the film’s branding and stars, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, to feature with Jaguar in Monaco. He negotiated for the gems with diamond company Steinmetz: Klien’s 1.4-carat diamond and a second stone on team-mate Mark Webber’s car were encased in steel and fixed to the noses. A larger gem was reserved for photographs.

Jaguar could use the attention. Its results had been modest since entering Formula 1 in 2000, and by 2004 parent company Ford had decided to pull out. Tony Purnell, the team principal at the time, says he was tasked with finding a new owner, or the team would close.

Klien was contesting only his sixth Grand Prix when he made contact with a Jordan exiting Mirabeau. His front wing lodged under the front tyres, and the Jaguar struck the barriers at the Loews hairpin at low speed. Klien climbed out unhurt.

The race had 76 laps still to run. The damaged car was lifted off the track and left behind the barriers; Sidhu could not inspect it until the race ended. He told BBC Sport that the hour-and-a-half wait felt “like a day and a half”.

Sidhu believes someone picked up the diamond. Purnell has raised the same possibility, as well as suggesting that the stone may have shattered or been swept down a drain.

Sidhu rejects rumours that the diamond was fake. He says bringing both cars home, ideally in the points, was worth far more to Jaguar commercially than the publicity from a crash. Purnell dismisses the suggestion that Klien crashed deliberately and recalls the driver calling it a rookie mistake.

Webber retired later, leaving neither Jaguar at the finish. Purnell recalls that, instead of discussing the team’s result, people wanted to know: “where's the diamond?” He believes the publicity helped the sale of the team to Red Bull six months later because, he says, it showed how much attention Jaguar could attract even without good results.