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| Full name | Arrows Grand Prix International |
|---|---|
| Base | Milton Keynes,United Kingdom (1977–1996) Leafield,United Kingdom (1997–2002) |
| Founder(s) | Franco Ambrosio Alan Rees Jackie Oliver Dave Wass Tony Southgate |
| Noted staff | Tom Walkinshaw Heini Mader Justin Loosley Ross Brawn |
| Noted drivers |  Riccardo Patrese Rolf StommelenJochen Mass Alan Jones Thierry Boutsen Gerhard Berger Derek Warwick Eddie CheeverDamon Hill Jos Verstappen Enrique Bernoldi |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 394 entries (382 starts) |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 (Best finish: five 2nd places, last one at1997 Hungarian Grand Prix) |
| Podiums | 9 |
| Points | 164 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Final entry | 2002 German Grand Prix |
Arrows Grand Prix International was a BritishFormula One team active from1978 to2002. It was known asFootwork from 1991 to 1996.
The Arrows Grand Prix International team was founded inMilton Keynes,England in November 1977, by Italian businessmanFranco Ambrosio,Alan Rees, former racing driverJackie Oliver, Dave Wass andTony Southgate (the team deriving its name from the initials of their surnames) when they left theShadow team.[1] The team was formed and appeared on the grid for their first race at the1978 Brazilian Grand Prix, all within three months.[2]
Arrows signedGunnar Nilsson andRiccardo Patrese to drive, but Nilsson was diagnosed with cancer shortly afterwards. His failing health causedRolf Stommelen to take his place. The team initially ran a copy of the Shadow DN9, with the initials of the team's first sponsor, Franco Ambrosio, used in naming the car, theArrows FA1. However, Ambrosio left the team in early 1978 when jailed in Italy for financial irregularities and main sponsor became Warsteiner. Shadow sued forcopyright infringement, and the London High Courts ruled that the FA1 was a direct copy of theShadow DN9. Arrows knew that they would lose the case and designed a brand new car, theArrows A1, in 52 days. It was shown the day after theHigh Court of Justice in London upheld Shadow's claim and banned the team from racing the FA1.[3]
Patrese scored points in the team's third race, theUS West Grand Prix atLong Beach. He was on course for victory in South Africa, but an engine failure in the closing stages of the race robbed him of the win. A second-place finish inSweden behind Niki Lauda and the infamousfan car was a highlight for the Italian.[4] In September 1978, in theItalian Grand Prix atMonza, Patrese was involved in an accident which eventually claimed the life ofRonnie Peterson. Patrese was accused of causing the accident and then subsequently banned from racing at the following event (theUnited States Grand Prix) by his fellow drivers. Patrese was later exonerated of all charges.[5]
At the 1979 Monaco GP, Jochen Mass'Arrows A1 moved into third place during the race and looked to be closing in on the leaders. However, brake issues dropped him down to sixth position by the chequered flag.Lotus had introducedground effect to F1 in 1978. As a result, Tony Southgate designed a radical ground effect car, theA2. While striking to look at, it was not competitive and Arrows was forced to use an upgraded version of the A1.[6]
With the A2 being too radical, Southgate penned theArrows A3 for 1980. The car was competitive, and it was used during the following season as well. In1981, Patrese scored the team's only Formula One pole position inLong Beach, which he led until retiring with mechanical problems on lap 33 of 80. Arrows finished joint eighth in theConstructors' Championship that year.
At theLong Beach Grand Prix in 1983,1980 World Drivers' ChampionAlan Jones was tempted out of retirement on a one-off basis. He qualified 12th but dropped out with pain in the closing stages. A few weeks prior to the race Jones had fallen from a horse on his farm at home in Australia resulting in a broken hip.[7] Jones also drove for the team at the1983 Race of Champions atBrands Hatch (the last ever in-season, non-championship Formula One race), finishing 3rd and a week later was later entered in theFrench Grand Prix with a view to keeping the drive for the duration of the season, however expected sponsorship money never materialised and the teams regular driverChico Serra returning to the seat.
In1984 withBMW M12 turbo engines and sponsorship fromcigarette brandBarclay things got much better. That year they were ninth in the Constructors' Championship and eighth in1985. At the1985 San Marino Grand Prix,Thierry Boutsen finished third behindAlain Prost andElio de Angelis. However, after the race, Prost was disqualified because his car was 2 kg underweight, giving Boutsen the second place.
Tony Southgate had fallen out with the other founder members and left to work forTom Walkinshaw, who would have a major impact on the team in later years.[8] The1986 season was a disaster. TheA9 car was delivered late afterBritish Aerospace had problems building the team's first carbon composite chassis. The car proved uncompetitive and its designer Dave Wass left to joinBenetton, leaving just Oliver and Alan Rees in charge.[9] Oliver wasted no time in replacing the two and hiredRoss Brawn to design the effectiveA10 for1987.[10]
BMW pulled out of Formula One and the engines were badgedMegatron through a deal with Arrows major sponsorUSF&G, but the British team had their best seasons yet, finishing seventh in 1987 and fifth in1988 (the final year for turbocharged engines) thanks to frequent points finishes by driversEddie Cheever andDerek Warwick. While 1987 and 1988 were Arrows' best years in F1, they were also the cause of frustration for the team and its drivers Warwick and Cheever. At the start of 1987 the sports ruling body (FIA) mandated that all turbo powered cars were to use a pop-off valve in order to restrict turbo boost. This was done not only to slow the cars down for safety reasons, but it was an effort to curb the rapidly rising costs of Formula One. The problem for Arrows was that the valve would regularly cut in lower than the set limit (4.0 bar in 1987, 2.5 bar in 1988). This meant that the Megatron engines were not producing their full power. It took the team's engine designer Heini Mader until just before the1988 Italian Grand Prix atMonza (Round 12) to find the solution, which was simply moving the valve closer to the engine, somethingHonda andFerrari engineers had long before discovered. Although Cheever and Warwick finished the race in third and fourth respectively, it was too little too late as the turbo era ended after the 1988 season.[11]
Warwick and Cheever stayed with the team for 1989 and drove the Brawn designedArrows A11, which was powered by theFord DFRV8 engine. The team's best finish came at theUnited States Grand Prix in Cheever's home town ofPhoenix. There, the American scored his final podium finish by finishing third. Ultimately, however, Cheever struggled in the A11 (which had to be specially modified early in the season so the tall American could fit in the car) and he actually failed to qualify at theBritish andItalian Grands Prix. Warwick's perennial bad luck also continued: a long pit stop during the opening race inBrazil cost him what many believed would have been his first win, while at Round 6 in the wetCanadian Grand Prix, Warwick briefly led, and was in second place when his Ford V8 blew. He had been regularly faster than those behind him (including eventual winner Thierry Boutsen, who drove aWilliams-Renault), and could have won when race leaderAyrton Senna blew the Honda engine in hisMcLaren with only two laps remaining. After finishing fifth in 1988, Arrows dropped to seventh in 1989.[10]
Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi invested in Arrows in 1990 and the cars started displaying the Footwork logo prominently. Jackie Oliver sold his shares in the team to Ohashi, but remained as team principal.Alan Jenkins was hired as technical director after Brawn moved to TWR, but had a difficult relationship with Oliver.[12] The team was officially renamed Footwork in 1991, and secured a deal to race withPorsche V12 engines, but the car was woefully uncompetitive. The engine was overweight and underpowered and Porsche quickly pulled the plug. Footwork quickly switched to aFord V8.[13]
In 1992 the team switched toMugen engines while Jenkins continued to design simple but effective cars on a limited budget. The1994 season was the most competitive showing, with several points finishes gained, including a double points finish in Germany.[14]Christian Fittipaldi was partnered withGianni Morbidelli after impressive performances in testing, while theFA15 featured some innovative aerodynamics.[15] Alan D. Harrison (longest serving member having been with JO & AR since early Shadow F1) took over as Team Manager, after John Wickham. Morbidelli was Footwork's most successful driver, and scored a podium in Australia in 1995, the final race in the Footwork era. Morbidelli enjoyed the experience, stating they were his favourite years in racing but conceded that money was tight.[16] Oliver had retained control throughout the entire period, funding the team from his own pocket after Ohashi withdrew his support and taking on pay drivers due to lack of sponsorship.[17]
After a failed attempt to buyLigier,Tom Walkinshaw bought 51% of the team. In so doing he bought out Alan Rees' share in March 1996, and the team dropped the Footwork name (though the team was still listed as Footwork in the constructor standings that year).[18] In taking over Arrows, he brought designerFrank Dernie and several others with him from Ligier and dropped Alan Jenkins, who joined the newStewart outfit.[19] Walkinshaw had a history of success in various motor sport categories, having won theWorld Sportscar Championship for Jaguar three times, several touring car championships and had been behindMichael Schumacher'sfirst world title.[20] At the time, TWR was running theHolden Racing Team inAustralia with great success.[21] At home, Walkinshaw was operating the Volvo team in theBritish Touring Car Championship, and the Volvo and Arrows programmes were operated concurrently.[22]
Walkinshaw had plans to turn Arrows into a world championship winning team. To that end in September he signed up World ChampionDamon Hill and hired wealthy BrazilianPedro Diniz tohelp pay for Hill's salary. HisTWR operation moved the outfit toLeafield and put a new technical team in place.John Judd prepared the Yamaha sourced engine, while Dernie made way forJohn Barnard who was hired as designer and technical chief.[23] Under an exclusive deal,Bridgestone supplied tyres.[24] The team nearly secured a maiden victory at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hill started in third position and passed Michael Schumacher to take first place. Hill led comfortably until with just two laps left, a rubber seal in the hydraulic system failed. Hill was overtaken on the last lap but he clung on to finish second.[25]
As Hill left Arrows after 1997 season to race forJordan, the team contracted Finnish driverMika Salo to partner Diniz for the1998 F1 season. The 1998 season marked a new era for Arrows, as the team decided to build its own engines after buying outBrian Hart's preparation company. A V10 Arrows T2-F1 was made to power the cars for the team.[26] It proved to be a difficult season, although both cars finished a respectable fourth and sixth at the eventful1998 Monaco GP, and Diniz went on to score a single fifth-place finish at the wetBelgian race. Arrows ended up finishing seventh in the Constructors' Championship, with a total of six points. Barnard left the team after a dispute with Walkinshaw, withMike Coughlan taking over as technical director. At this pointZakspeed tried to buy Walkinshaw's shares in Arrows for around $40 million but terms could not be reached and the deal fell through.[27]
At the start of the1999 Formula One seasonMalik Ado-Ibrahim bought a 25% shareholding in the team, and his T-Minus brand appeared on the cars for most of the year. However, he too could not provide sufficient funding. The idea behind the T-Minus brand was that companies and corporations would purchase the rights to use the name and they would be permitted to use the brand to promote their products. Malik stated that he had intentions to use the brand in conjunction withLamborghini but a deal never pulled through. An Arrows employee at the time stated 'The T-Minus brand has brought in absolutely no money over the year' and that 'It was simply a dream in the Prince's head and nothing materialised.'[28] The year was a tough one. Money was tight and the car was a mild update of the 1998 model. A solitary point was scored all season. During 1999, Jackie Oliver sold his remaining shares, leaving Walkinshaw in complete control.[29][30] A deal with equity companyMorgan Grenfell who bought into Arrows kept the team afloat, but would have long term implications for TWR.[31] The driver lineup also changed when the team brought in rookiePedro de la Rosa and 1998 Tyrrell driverToranosuke Takagi, who both brought much needed funds.
In the 2000 season,Jos Verstappen returned to Arrows with teammate Pedro de la Rosa, where he had driven in 1996 and his teammate then wasRicardo Rosset. The chassis was anArrows A21 with aSupertec (rebadged Renault) engine, the in-house built units proving unsuccessful. The Supertec engine was not the most powerful, but was still very good, and had been developed further for the season. Allied to an excellent aerodynamic package and good rear end stability, it allowed the Arrows A21 to set the best straight line speeds consistently around the circuits. An influx of sponsorship fromOrange helped to fund the team. Generally, both Verstappen and de la Rosa were competitive within a close midfield. During the 2000 season, the Arrows team took part in a thirteen-part TV series namedRacing Arrows, which followed the team and drivers throughout the year. It was shown on British TV channelITV in 2001 during late-night slots.[32]
Supertec was bought out byRenault at the end of 2000, which could have caused the team to take on expensive customer engines for 2001.[33] As a result, a switch to Asiatech (rebadged Peugeot) V10s in 2001 and the loss of a lot of staff including team managerSteve Nielsen and designerEghbal Hamidy left the team significantly weaker in 2001 whenTom Walkinshaw decided to replace de la Rosa with F1 debutantEnrique Bernoldi. The team struggled through the season and Verstappen scored the team's only point in Austria.
For 2002, Walkinshaw made a deal to use customerJaguar-spec Cosworth V10 engines in order to help Jaguar become a competitive team and retained Bernoldi (with support from Red Bull) but dropped Verstappen in favour ofHeinz-Harald Frentzen, who became available whenProst Grand Prix closed down. This caused Verstappen successfully to sue for breach of contract. That year also saw a costly payout to Pedro Diniz after unsuccessfully suing the Brazilian, who hadtaken his funding toSauber for 1999. The team faced a third litigation from Frentzen, who was contracted on a race-by-race basis and who had not yet been paid. Mounting debts including money owed to Cosworth spelled the end.[35] Allied to sponsorship problems, Arrows ran out of money in the mid-season and did not appear at all the races at the end of the year, their drivers deliberately failing to qualify for theFrench Grand Prix.[36]
Negotiations were undertaken throughout the season with potential investors to buy into the team or buy it outright, such asCraig Pollock, who had just been ousted fromBAR and twice made an offer for the team, andDietrich Mateschitz.[37]
The team went into liquidation at the end of the season, also forcingTWR to close.[38] The FIA rejected Arrows' entry application for the 2003 season prior to start date in Australia.
In their chequered history, Arrows set the unenviable record of 382 races without a win, although they collected nine podium finishes (one under Footwork) including five second places.
All theArrows A23 chassis and the full Arrows Grand Prix International intellectual property rights were bought by theMinardi team, including the initial concept and drawings of the Arrows A24. The Arrows A23 was renamed the Minardi PS04 and in back-to-back tests it was found superior to Minardi's PS03. Minardi however decided that they could not run a "pure-Arrows" and hence use the Arrows intellectual property to take the best from the PS03, PS04 / Arrows A23 and Arrows A24 design concepts to develop the Minardi PS04B for the 2004 season. For following season the PS04B is developed into the PS05.[39]
In 2005 the Arrows Grand Prix International bloodline continued through intoSuper Aguri when Paul Stoddart sold the combined Minardi and Arrows Grand Prix International intellectual property rights, as well as the Minardi PS05 cars toRed Bull andAguri Suzuki respectively.[40]
At the end of 2005, the newly formedSuper Aguri F1 team took over the former Arrows base at Leafield in Oxfordshire and bought four unmodified Arrows A23's from Minardi, all of the spare parts, as well as the Arrows Grand Prix International intellectual property rights.[41] Many of the ex-Arrows staff were hired to engineer the team, including technical directorMark Preston.[42] The 2002 Arrows A23's were run (with minor modifications) as the Super Aguri SA05 during the first races of the2006 season. An update of the 2002 Arrows chassis was designated the SA06 and made its debut at the2006 German Grand Prix.[43]
In late 2008 when Super Aguri folded, Formtech Composites purchased the intellectual property rights held by Super Aguri and took over the former Arrows base at Leafield. Today Formtech Composites engineer composite components for the automotive, motorsport, military and aerospace industries.
