2001 Arrows A22

The Arrows A21 car of 2000 carried the team to a seventh-place finish in the constructor's championship after scoring seven points. For 2001, the team had higher hopes with their Mike Coughlan and Sergio Rinland-designed Arrows A22. The A21 was driven in 2000 by Pedro de la Rosa and Jos Verstappen. For 2001, Jos Verstappen took the lead car and was joined by Enrique Bernoldi. The engine in the A21 had been by Supertec, but now Arrows was getting their engines from Asiatech for their A22 car. The Asiatech engine, a Peugeot-based engine, had been used in the prior season by the Prost team. This was the second year in a row that Arrows switched engine suppliers. This engine was less powerful than its predecessor and was plagued with reliability issues.

The A22 was an evolution of the A21. It was lighter and had improved aerodynamics. The fuel tank was smaller than most of the ones used by other Formula 1 competition cars. This made for some rather exciting races as the team often gambled with low-fuel strategies. This was not enough and the team found themselves sinking behind in the points. Their lack of proper testing and being hamstrung by a minimalistic budget left them 10th in the Constructors Championship points. The prior year they had finished in seventh place.

The team shifted their focus to the 2002 season and was able to secure Cosworth/Ford engines. This would, of course, mean the third year in a row in which they changed engines.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2007