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The Paddock
2 0 0 0 t e a m s
18 + 19  |
 Orange Arrows |
| Formula One record: [1-1-2000] |
| Starts |
337 |
| Poles |
0 |
| Wins |
0 |
| Constructors' titles |
none |
| Drivers' titles |
none |
| First GP enterd |
Brazil 1978 |
| Arrows hold the Formula One record for number of races contested by a team without a single win. |
| 1999 season: |
| Ninth equal, one point (Pedro de la Rosa / Toranosuke Takagi). |
sixth x1, seventh x1, eighth x1, 11th x2, 12th x1, 13th x1, 15th x1, 16th x1, retired x22, disqualified x1. |
| History: |
| 1977 |
Arrows Racing Team founded |
| 1978 |
Formula One debut, Riccardo Patrese leads in second race (South Africa) before retiring. |
| 1986 |
Ross Brawn arrives as designer |
| 1989 |
Footwork buy team. |
| 1990 |
Ross Brawn leaves. |
| 1994 |
Team changes name back to Arrows. |
| 1996 |
Walkinshaw takes control of team |
| 1997 |
John Barnard appointed technical director. |
| 1998 |
Barnard leaves for Prost. |
| Season by season: (year, standing, points, wins, drivers) |
| 1978 |
ninth equal, 11 (Riccardo Patrese/Rolf Stommelen) |
| 1979 |
ninth, 5 (Patrese/Jochen Mass). |
| 1980 |
seventh equal, 11 (Patrese/Mass). |
| 1981 |
eighth equal, 10 (Patrese/Siegfried Stohr) |
| 1982 |
10th, 5 (Mauro Baldi/Brian Henton/Marc Surer) |
| 1983 |
10th, 4 (Surer/Chico Serra/Thierry Boutsen) |
| 1984 |
ninth, six (Surer/Boutsen). |
| 1985 |
eighth, 14 (Boutsen/Gerhard Berger). |
| 1986 |
10th, 1 (Surer/Boutsen/Christian Danner) |
| 1987 |
sixth equal, 11 (Derek Warwick/Eddie Cheever) |
| 1988 |
fourth equal, 23 (Warwick/Cheever) |
| 1989 |
seventh, 13 (Warwick/Cheever/Martin Donnelly) |
| 1990 |
ninth equal, 2 (Michele Alboreto/Ivan Capelli) |
| 1991 |
no points (Alboreto/Alex Caffi/Stefan Johansson) |
| 1992 |
(as Footwork) seventh equal, six. (Alboreto/Aguri Suzuki) |
| 1993 |
(as Footwork) ninth, four (Warwick/Suzuki) |
| 1994 |
(as Footwork) ninth, nine (Christian Fittipaldi/Gianni Morbidelli) |
| 1995 |
(as Footwork) eighth equal, five (Morbidelli/Taki Inoue/Massimiliano Papis) |
| 1996 |
(as Footwork) ninth, one (Ricardo Rosset/Jos Verstappen). |
| 1997 |
eighth, nine (Damon Hill/Pedro Diniz). |
| 1998 |
seventh, six (Diniz/Mika Salo) |
| Prospects for the 2000 season: |
 Arrows A21, powered by Supertec V10 engine. |
| Last season started off well with an immediate point for de la Rosa and then it all went wrong with an underpowered and increasingly unreliable car. This season they have abandoned their home-grown engines for the Renault-based Supertec. Japanese driver Tora Takagi leaves and Dutch veteran Jos Verstappen, who drove for the team in 1996, returns. Arrows produced some startling results in pre-season testing, although some of the other teams have dismissed the quick times as an effort to impress would-be sponsors. |
| Drivers: |
Pedro de la Rosa  |
| Aged 29, Spain. |
| Races 16., no poles, no wins, points to date 1. |
| 1998 record |
Arrows, 17th equal. one point - sixth x1, 11th x2, 13th x1, 15th x1, retired x11.
|
Right from the start of this young mans career, he has shown great talent. Starting in 1989, he won the Spanish Formula Fiat Uno Championship. The following year, 1990, he won the title in Spanish Formula Ford 1600, then moved to the Spanish Formula Renault series in 91, where he finished an impressive 4th.
1992 saw him take the win in the British Formula Renault Championship, as well as the win in the European Formula Renault series. Here he won many awards and gained international recognition, as well as valuable experience.
In 1993, he moved to the British F3 Championship, driving for West Surrey racing, where he finished 6th overall. He remained with the team in 94, helping to develop Renault's new F-3 engine.
1995 saw him drive for TOM's (Toyota) in the Japanese F3 Championship, where he took the title by mid season. That year saw him secure 8 pole positions, and 8 victories, as well as coming third in the F.I.A. Macau G.P. The following year he moved to Formula Nippon F3000, as well as competing in the All-Japan GT Championship where he finished 8th overall in both. He continued in both series' in 97, where he took the Formula Nippon Championship after winning an amazing ten out of ten podium finishes.
Together with Michael Krumm, he also won the GT Championship in that same year and he was elected "1997 Driver Of The Year" by the Japanese Motorsports Journalists Association.
Eddie Jordan hired Pedro as test driver in 1998, but he was signed by the Arrows team as their number one driver for the 99 season.
[More] |
 Jos Verstappen |
| Aged 28, Netherlands. |
| Races 57, no wins, no poles, points to date 11 |
| 1998 record |
Tested with Honda |
| Had a meteoric rise to Formula One, entering the sport aged 22, but has suffered in uncompetitive cars.
Jos Verstappen has followed a typical career before entering Formula 1. From karting to F3 (where he was German champion in 1993).
Benetton were the first team to take the Dutchman under their wings as a test drivers. After their usual driver JJ Letho suffered an injury it was up to Verstappen to partner Michael Schumacher in 1994. Lacking experience Verstappen suffered but he did, however, manage a podium finish at the Hungaroring.
After a lack lustre season with Benetton, except for a very flashy pit lane fire incident where Verstappen was showered with fuel which ignited, he moved to the ill fated Simtek team in 1995.
Verstappen drove for the Arrows Hart team in 1996 and Tyrrell in 1997 - two season lacking any real panache. Without a drive in 1998 Stewart called the Dutchman in to replace flagging Jan Magnussen after the Canadian Grand Prix.
No drive in 1999 Verstappen showed he still had something left as he was selected to test for Honda. 2000 sees him back on the grid in the Arrows team again. Verstappen is known to bring with him a substantial package of sponsorship to the team and it is believed that this clinched him a drive over fellow Dutchman Tom Coronel.
Both Verstappen and Arrows have a lot to prove in 2000.
[More] |
| Arrows in 2000: |
The Australian Grand Prix will be the 338th time an Arrows car has appeared on the start line in a Formula One event - and it is yet to win a race.
Nobody is expecting it to break its duck in Melbourne, either, although many are predicting that Arrows could be a surprise package this season and perhaps emerge as the most improved team in the sport.
The reason is straightforward. Horsepower. Tom Walkinshaw's team, which tried to develop its own V10 engine, has abandoned the project and joined a number of its rivals by opting for the Supertec customer engine from Renault.
This is a significantly more powerful beast, proven in pre-season testing when the unheralded Arrows was running consistently quickly, on occasion posting better lap times than much more fancied teams.
Testing, of course, is no guarantee that the cars will be quicker on race day. No one is ever sure quite how heavy a fuel load any car is carrying, whether the team is using new tyres or more worn rubber, and whether a team is experimenting with different set-ups.
It is not unknown for poorly funded teams to set up cars for test lap specials in a bid to post impressive times in the January/February pre-season period to encourage sponsors to get on board with the promise that all is set for the season to come.
Arrows did admit that it had made its fastest passes with a low fuel load, but driver Pedro de la Rosa, the Spaniard who finished sixth at Albert Park last year in his first ever F1 drive, was still talking up the team's prospects after tests at Catalunya last month when he set a new unofficial lap record.
De la Rosa said the extra grunt from the Supertec powerplant could allow the team to match it with many of its supposed superiors this season.
`` The car's quick and it's a big step forward for us, but it's not at the level of the best.
"I'm over the moon because the car is good and it's very important to start the season knowing you have a good base to start from. But we have to keep our feet on the ground and work on the reliability."
Even F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone agreed, declaring that "the new Arrows looks good''.
In truth, the team simply has to get better or it might not have much of a future. After garnering just the single point from the first race last season - mainly because de la Rosa's car kept going when most of the others broke - Arrows spent most of the year battling with Minardi to avoid the dubious distinction of being on the back row of the grid.
It was ironic that reliability got it its point in Melbourne, as de la Rosa and his then team-mate Tora Takagi were handicapped by the car's lack of reliability through the rest of the year. Between them they failed to finish on 22 of their 32 starts.
A shortage of funds meant that the team could do little or no work on its 1999 car, and had to run with pretty much a version of the 1998 model.
This time around they have been able to do a lot more work, and unveiled the new version of the Arrows car last month.
De la Rosa will have a new partner for season 2000 as Dutchman Jos Verstappen grabbed the second seat in a deal announced earlier this year.
Verstappen, who started his career as a youthful tyro with Benetton as Michael Schumacher's running mate in the mid 1990s, comes with significant financial support and a reputation as a driver who has not lived up to expectations.
There is probably more local involvement with this team than any other. Tom Walkinshaw, the Rugby Union loving former driver turned team owner, is also the owner of Holden Special Vehicles, while Australian Formula One hopeful Mark Webber has been involved in the team's pre-season testing.
In fact Webber was hoping to hear if he was to become the team's official test driver after this magazine went to press.
In addition, expatriate Australian aviation industry millionaire Paul Stoddart owns the Formula 3000 team which this year will become the Arrows junior squad. Webber will be that team's driver in a move which, he hopes, will be the final springboard for a leap into F1 next year.
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