Team: Arrows
by Julie Gates
The Team: In a season that looked promising at the beginning, with de la Rosa and Takagi finishing sixth and seventh at Australia, situations went downhill to see the team score sixteen DNF from a possible thirty-two. Losing the backing of Prince Malik, the team fell behind in its development. Gradually falling behind Minardi, they usually occupied the last row of the grid and cover the lowest mileage during the season, largely thanks to the terrible unreliability from the Arrows-Hart engine. With two inexperience drivers in Tora Takagi and Pedro de la Rosa, they failed to gain any type of performance throughout the year. Nonetheless, they always worked hard, testing, racing and facing up to the world's media, and are aiming for their best season yet in 2000 with the assistance of Supertec.
Driver - Toanosuke Takagi: Even though he demonstrated speed in qualifying, he has been unable to take the same level of performance throughout race distances. Lacking consistency in race trim, he failed to score a World Championship point and his best finish came at Melbourne where he finished seventh… and last. Even though he suffered mercilessly in the unreliable Arrows, his own mistake rate was too high. He looks unlikely to be retained by the team in 2000.
Driver - Pedro de la Rosa: Considering it was the Spaniard's first season in Formula One, he did extremely well to score a point at his maiden Grand Prix. He has out-qualified Takagi seven times throughout the season and has been the more consistent of the two, despite suffering from the car's unreliability. Overall, he has coped well with his first year in Formula One and should the team improve next year, looks set for further points finishes.
Conclusion: A year that started so well couldn't have ended much worse. Falling behind Minardi during the latter stages of the season, they admitted all their effort was on the new car for 2000, and the performances showed it. There's nothing more to be said on this season - let's hope that concentration on next year pays off.
Grade: E-
Article is written by and copyright © 1999-2001 Julie Gates and The F1 Rumors Site
Julie Gates is happiest watching F1 and writing. Also interested in singing, cars, cinema, reading and going to concerts, she has little spare time to relax, but this is the way she likes it - rather being busy than idle as she can't stand still for five minutes! Totally committed to her career as a Formula One journalist, she is determined to succeed.
|
