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PROFILE
Despite racing in F1 for over 20 years,
the Arrows team still waits for it's first win. The
team was formed in 1977 after several members of the
Shadow team left to form their own team, Arrows. The
new team made an instant impact, and in their second
ever race in 1978, when Ricardo Patrese led. He finished
second in the Swedish Grand Prix.
Copyright problems regarding the design of the Arrows
A1 arose, with accusations that it was a copy of the
Shadow DN9, and Shadow won the court battle. Arrows
redesigned the car without missing a race, but it was
less competitive. In 1981, things improved for the team,
with Patrese taking a Pole at Long Beach, but the team
started to go downhill after his departure.
In 1989, with Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever at the
wheels, the team scored it's best ever constructors'
finish of fourth place. The Japanese company Footwork
bought into the team to provide some much needed cash,
and the team was rebadged as Footwork by 1991. Several
engine deals over the following years proved unsuccessful,
and the company started to pull out of F1. In 1996,
the Arrows name returned, and Tom Walkinshaw, who had
previously won the constructors' championship with Benetton,
bought the team.
Walkinshaw managed to sign the 1996 world champion Damon
Hill, and he nearly scored the team's first ever win
for the team at the Hungaroring, in his only season
with the team in 97. Hill left for Jordan at the end
of the year, after unreliabilty spoiled his chances
of adding more wins to his name.
Both 1998 and 1999 were unremarkable seasons, with the
team struggling for points in both. But towards the
end of 99, Walkinshaw managed to secure a supply of
Supertec engines for the team, and things started to
look brighter.
Just days before the start of the 2000 season, things
looked brighter still, as mobile phone giants Orange
bought title sponsorship in the team, and the Arrows
team was official renamed the Orange Arrows F1 team.
With Pedro de la Rosa and Jos Verstappen driving, the
team scored few points, but were clearly the most improved
team of the year, finishing in 7th place in the constructors'
championship. 2006 looks a little suspect for the team,
with rumours that Orange may have pulled out, and the
AMT engines which are rebadged Peugeot's also do not
sound especially promising, but, as with all things,
time will tell.
WEB
SITE
http://www.arrows.com
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