Australia 2002 preview

No longer a rookie
By Huw Alban
April 29 2002

The OrangeArrows team have spent the winter test ban period working hard on developing a brand new car, and as a result lifted the covers late. Since then they have tested intensively, but the true form of the their new challenger will not become clear until the grid forms up on Sunday.

OrangeArrows started their 2001 season at Melbourne strongly, with Jos Verstappen 6th on the time sheets at the end of the first practice session. Verstappen dropped to 14th in the second session as a result of the rest of the grid making improvements, but the team were still optimistic for the weekend.

A transmission problem for Jos on Saturday during the third practice session confined him to the garage for the duration of the fourth and last practice. New team mate Enrique Bernoldi, on the other hand, experienced no problems and made steady progress to finish the practice sessions 18th overall.

Arrows started the Grand Prix from 15th and 18th places, with Jos Verstappen in front. Enrique Bernoldi's first race in Formula 1 only lasted 3 laps when he hooked a wheel onto the grass verge, crashing into retirement.

A collosal accident between Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher played into the hands of the team, enabling Jos Verstappen to catch up with the field which was now touring behind the safety car. Verstappen eventually finished the race 9th, 1 lap behind the leaders.

The new Cosworth A23 has been testing well, and has been reasonably competitive when placed amongst others on the grid. Test times, however, are notoriously unreliable and the teams true position will not become clear until the grid has qualified on Saturday.

This is a sentiment shared by Technical Director, Mike Coughlan. "It’s impossible to predict our competitiveness," he said to the official Arrows website. "We’re pretty happy with our testing progress but we’ll have to see where we are on the timesheets after Qualifying. I think the A23 will give us a solid platform from which to attack the new season and we are all eager to get stuck in. Obviously reliability is always an issue in Melbourne but it is the same for everybody."