Chat session reveals yet more HHF rumours

Solid support
By Huw Alban
April 27 2002

During tonight's chat session on this site, someone signing himself as 'Huub' indicated that the shakedown of the A23 planned for tomorrow had been cancelled due to problems with the rear of the car. Although his identity could not be confirmed, if true, this will present a huge blow for the team.

In addition 'Huub' revealed that Jos Verstappen had been invited to the shakedown run, but stopped short of indicating why he was not listed in any of the stories covering the rumoured run.
Other comments to come out of the chat session tonight, which enjoyed a large number of new faces all eager to find out the latest on Jos, included a confidential source revealing that Frentzen had been at the Arrows factory today, but left without a contract in his hand. This could have some substance bearing in mind the story that appeared at raceplanet.net today, although this story has not been given much credibility within the Verstappen fan camp.

German speaking chat room contributors revealed that Heinz-Harald Frentzen had been talking about a move to CART. Apparently he has indicated a desire to compete in this series in the past.

It also emerged tonight that this site's Jos Verstappen Fan Campaign, has not met universal applaud out there in the land of Verstappen. The split is about 50% for, but the remaining believe that the Dutchman should be retained at the team because of his driving ability and not because of fan pressure. Like OrangeArrows or any F1 team that matter would bow to retaining a driver because of fan pressure ! I think that the point of the campaign has been lost - it's a show of support for the man to the team. They probably know that he's a popular driver, and in all probability don't need reminding, but if we could get just a hint of a glimmer of hope then the campaign is worthwhile. That is what it is trying to do. At least we can say we tried !

There was also an interesting, and lengthy discussion about Verstappen and the Dutch money he attracts in sponsorship. This point has been mentioned before in several stories and in comment on the message board, but tonight it was married with the recent fall of Prost and the rumoured money crisis in F1. If Verstappen goes, then surely Arrows will lose a good portion of their sponsors (Lost Boys, Chello, Trust etc) ? Just before Christmas this site covered a story that suggested that Arrows' finances were not that healthy, and it raised the question - If Jos doesn't drive for Arrows then can the team afford to go racing at all ? Unfortunately we couldn't arrive at a conclusion, but we were all sure that it is something that has not been lost on team boss Tom Walkinshaw.