Arrows and their apparent improvements...

[Minardi fan]

Ok, so Arrows have been quite impressive this season - anything is better than being the permanent 21st and 22nd on the grid (NO COMMENTS THANKYOU ). However, when it comes down to it, the reason for their new-found success is surely the Supertec engine. Stick the Supertec in a Minardi and they'd be doing better than Arrows are now, guaranteed.

Any other explanations???

[Regs]

I agree, Arrows have definitely done something right and they look great this year compared to the past. I also feel bringing on Verstappen has paid dividends, just look at how he did in Canada this past weekend. I was impressed. I agree that bolting a Supertec onto a Minardi would help thier times. But in a sense it would be a sliding scale in that their competition, Arrows, are also getting proportionately better. The only team on the backslide right now are Prost. Though with Renaults purchase of Benetton, that might cause Peugeot to show more interest in ther F1 efforts.

[MichaelC]

Now Renault are officially back in-house at Benetton, you'd have to think Benetton are going to be getting some form of special treatement in the engine department. Therefore, it might be logical to think that there might be a spare SuperTec going for Minardi, especially as Flav isn't in control any more.

Could Renault cope with one works team and two customer teams? I don't know, but last year Supertec managed three sets of customer engines...

[steve nielsen]

Peugot said they will anounce their future plans in f1 in mangny cours, and Tom Walkinshaw said that he would have a engine contract for next year within a month, coincidense???, or could it be Arrows-Peugot for next year??
the Peugot engine was always good for the Jordan team, so an Arrows Peugot could be what the team needs right now and Arrows will probably do a better job with that engine then Prost.

[Toth]

But the supertec isn't the only reason for Arrows good results. Surely the engine is great (Jos mentions that in every interview) but for the rest the car looks pretty good too. The supertec is still no match for a mercedes or a ferrari but still the arrows top speeds are always near or even higher than those cars.
But yeah, Minardi usually has a pretty good car too, wonder where they would have been with a supertec.

[Sharky]

Mmhhhh....I heard a rumor somewhere a few months back that Arrows is set to become Renault team #2 should the comming regulations require each engine manufacturer to supply 2 teams.....just as Prost, for example, would be Mercedes Benz team #2.

Anyway....don't forget that last year Arrows was running with a year old chassis plus a very low power engine. Now with all those new funds and the Supertec engine (which isn't really that great) they're starting to find what they were missing.

[EERO]

I want to reiterate what Sharky, said. Remember, M-Fan, Arrows had almost no developement last season, no testing and were running a year-old chassis. Certainly, the Superdreck is helping, but I think the infusion of Orange, Eurobet and Chello cash and a stronger driver's line-up are the real factors. The very talented De La Rosa now has a year of experience in F1 and Verstappen is a much better driver than Takagi was.

[KC]

I think that Arrows has made some sort of serious advancement in their chassis design that allows them to exploit the strengths of the Supertec motor, which are very few, and not suffer the weaknesses as much. Te Supertec motor is still down on horsepower to McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, but reliability is improving. With improved reliability, Arrows is able to make more aggressive chassis changes instead of compromising in an effort to save the motor. It is a good sign and I hope they can continue the upward trend.

[Gerard]

I think KC said it best.
A good engine in a bad chassis won't take you anywhere.
A bad engine in a good chassis neither, just look at Minardi.
Arrows have managed a good balance between engine development and chassis design.
Add to this the increase in money and a stronger driver line-up than last year and you've got the answer to the question where the improvement comes from.

[Minardi fan]

Good drivers + bad engine = bottom of grid
Good drivers + good engine = midfield.

No matter how good the drivers, in this case very, the engine and car will very much determine their position.

[Sharky]

Well Minardi fan. That's one of the things that distinguishes F1 from other racing categories. That the technology is so advanced and the costs so high that you can have the best driver in the world but that's useless unless you have a winning car.

But don't forget that Arrows wasn't so off track....at least until the start of the 99 season. Don't forget their awesome (awesome for a midfield team of course)performances at Monaco 98 and some success with Damon Hill back in the 97 season. They've been a pretty respectable team in the middle of the grid. In 99 they just had to go trough a year with low financial and technical resources but they're recovering from that dreadful season. They now have the cash, the technical resources and the drivers.

[Tristan]

Ah yes, the "David Coulthard syndrome", I think it is most commonly reffered. You'll be saying Damon Hill deserved to be WDC on driver merit next!!

Let me explain: DC has ALWAYS ALWAYS been in the best car, be it a Williams or a McLaren. Admittedly, in between the McLaren was mediocre, but so was he. See my point? DC has never had to progress through the rankings of F1. Most of the cars he's had the pleasure of being able to drive you could put a chimpanzee in and they'd drive themselves (probably). They all have flattered him, and he has yet to prove his credentials, in my book. This season he's better than Mika, although that's not saying much is it really. The '98 and '99 McLarens were operated by remote control or something, so fast they were!

McLaren have deserved the constructors championship when they won it. They had the best car. The only person who deserves the WDC at the mo is Schumi. He is the best DRIVER. Surely the WDC should be about the best DRIVER, do you see? Unfortunatly, it doesn't work like that.

Which leads me to a point: who's the best driver (OTHER THAN Schumi, obviously). NO WAY is it JV. He's good, but again, that Williams he was in was TOO GOOD. My vote goes to Giancarlo. He is comprehensivly TROUNCING his team-mate in almost Shucmacher-esque proportions in a RUBBISH car that looks to be a sod to drive ("back to basics design", apparently). So there.

[Minardi fan]

The best driver is Alesi.

[Martin de Miguel]

Regarding the Arrows issue, I believe they did something very intelligent this year. Jos Verstappen is very experienced and has brought a lot of experience to the team, and the same time they are very lucky of having De la Rosa probably one of the next F1 stars besides Fisichella and JPM.
About the best driver of the year I have to agree with Tristan and my vote goes to Fisichella because he is driving superbly.