Page 32 - On the Prowl: The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

ON THE PROWL
1993-2010: Beyond Jaguar
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A shadowy Japanese investment company had purchased the assets of Peugeot’s F1 engine operation
following its withdrawal and became an engine supplier under the name “Asiatech.” It was looking to build
experience in F1 prior to a possible entry in 2003 or 2004 and was prepared to supply engines to an existing
team at no cost. Walkinshaw snapped them up, and Arrows now found itself with worse engines than the
previous year.
A significant number of team members left, including Hamidy. De la Rosa also departed, replaced (at a late
hour, as was now typical for Arrows under TWR) by Brazilian rookie Enrique Bernoldi, whose Red Bull backing
made up for the loss of Repsol.
Had de la Rosa stayed with the team, it is plausible that he could have scored more points than Bernoldi,
who ended up with none. De la Rosa contributed three points to his new team, which ironically was the new
Jaguar outfit that had grown from the former Stewart Grand Prix.
Although there were far fewer mechanical-related retirements in 2001, the speed just wasn’t there. Jos
Verstappen grabbed the team’s only point of the year with a sixth in Austria. By mid-summer, Morgan Grenfell
announced that it was looking to sell its stake in the team.
Heading into 2002, the vultures began circling, as the team’s finances became even more tight. Morgan
Grenfell squeezed the team for payments on the loans it had provided, and in February Arrows’ lawsuit against
Pedro Diniz was dismissed, the judge requiring them to pay Diniz $700,000 plus court costs.
The free engines deal with Asiatech was over, and in an ironic twist Walkinshaw now found himself a
customer of Cosworth. Back in the Jaguar XJR-14 days, he had actually been helping Cosworth with its Ford F1
engines that were shared with the sports car. Now, providing customer-specification engines to Arrows would
help accelerate the engine’s development, which would benefit Ford’s works team. That team was Jaguar…
True to form, Walkinshaw executed a last-minute driver change, dropping Verstappen in favor of former
Mercedes Group C driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen. His combination of racing skill and sponsorship was too
tempting for Walkinshaw to refuse, so Verstappen was let go.
VAnother false dawn for Arrows,
as they came into 2000 with
Renault engines, a strong driver
pairing (Jos Verstappen returning
and Pedro de la Rosa, pictured here
at Silverstone, staying on) and
lucrative sponsorship from Orange.
Four finishes in the points was
underwhelming considering the
car’s inherent straight line speed.
(John Marsh/Alamy)
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