SEPTEMBER 18, 2002

The latest on Arrows

The Formula 1 world has largely lost interest in Arrows - with the feeling in the paddock at Monza that the team will not be seen again in any form and that eventually it will disappear in a mess of legal actions. There have been rumours that new lawsuits are coming from Orange, the team's principal sponsor, but our sources say that this will not be case for a number of very good reasons. The first is that Orange has had enough and just wants the problem to go away. There is no point in the company making a fuss about the sponsorship. It was a cheap deal and did a lot to help the profile of the company in the course of the last three years. The recent negative PR has not really affected Orange and no money has been lost because our understanding is that the payments were being made this year on a race-by-race basis. Legal action is ridiculous as it would create only negative publicity.

There is very little chance now that the team will be in the United States of America. There are no engines and no money to pay for the engines. The staff is on leave (for the moment) and the factory is closed, the locks have been changed and there is no sign that the mystery American buyer is going to come through with the deal. It is now nearly a month since an announcement was made about a buyer - and what has happened?

With each passing week rival teams have been contacting the good engineers and making them offers. Several have already gone and we expect to see others following.