The defections of John Barnard and Brian Hart during the ’99 season did not discourage the tenacious English manager Tom Walkinshaw who, in view of the 2000 season, definitively ended the short-lived period of building his own engines, a venture that had lasted a couple of years after taking over Hart’s workshops, and struck a deal with Flavio Briatore’s Supertec for the supply of the V10 FB02 engine, derived from Renault but managed by the Dutch company Super Performance Competition Engineering. For Walkinshaw, however, the financial resources needed to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship were, once again, the main issue, only partially addressed by the arrival of new sponsor Orange, a British telephone company that guaranteed the English team about £70 million over three years. With the arrival of the new sponsor, the livery of the new Arrows A21 also changed slightly, becoming almost entirely orange with black inserts on the sidepods and engine cover.
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| ARROWS A21, Jos Verstappen Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 2000 |
Further financial support also came from European Aviation, owned by Australian entrepreneur Paul Gerard Stoddart, already seen in Formula 1 between ’97 and ’99 as a minor sponsor of the Tyrrell and Jordan teams. Stoddart’s company became a technical sponsor, providing logistical and transport support not only to Walkinshaw’s team but also to Stoddart’s own Formula 3000 squad, which effectively became Arrows’ junior team. The small technical staff remained almost unchanged, with Briton Mike Coughlan still as Technical Director, Iranian-born but British-educated Eghbal Hamidy as Chief Designer, and, for the fourth year running, Englishman Simon Jennings as Chief Aerodynamicist. The new Arrows A21 marked a clear departure from the previous A20, which had been designed under John Barnard’s directives: it was a very simple single-seater, without frills or major technical innovations, but highly effective aerodynamically, capable of reaching particularly high top speeds.
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| ARROWS A21, Jos Verstappen Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2000 |
From a technical standpoint, the new A21 featured unusual front suspension for the time, adopting the pull-rod layout widely used by 1980s single-seaters that required greater airflow to the sidepods to enhance ground effect, but abandoned in the early 1990s. In addition to the new chassis, with the driver’s seat slightly lowered to improve the center of gravity, the rear brake calipers were mounted in an unusual position, practically lying as low as possible. The nose design was radically changed, lower and more curved in McLaren style, with triangular side winglets used on high-downforce tracks. Besides the nose, small fins and flow deflectors multiplied along the engine cover sides, the front wing, and the cockpit protection areas, all to improve aerodynamic penetration. The sidepods were also redesigned, losing the bulkiness of the previous model and becoming more graceful, with softer, more curved lines.
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| ARROWS A21, Pedro de la Rosa A1 Ring, Austrian GP 2000 |
Under the slimmer engine cover, with a trapezoidal air intake, sat the new Supertec (Renault-derived) engine, capable of delivering around 780 hp at 15,800 rpm, paired with the same gearbox used on the A20, built in-house by Arrows, starting from a classic longitudinal X-Trac six-speed sequential. Thanks to the increased power of the Supertec V10 compared to the previous Arrows-Hart, and to significantly improved aerodynamics, the new A21 proved to be a reasonably competitive car. However, the same gearbox, plagued by inherent fragility, and less-than-perfect electronics hindered the ambitions of the two main drivers: the confirmed Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who still brought personal sponsor Repsol, and the experienced Dutchman Jos Verstappen, who had already driven for Arrows in 1996 when the team raced under the Footwork name. Australian Mark Webber, who had tested the previous A20 in late ’99 at the Catalunya-Barcelona circuit, was chosen as third driver. After the disastrous 1999 season, the English team finally seemed to have found the right direction, with an undeniably fast single-seater, but once again hampered by the poor reliability of key components like the transmission and engine. During the season, the two drivers often fought in the upper midfield before being forced to retire, something that happened 21 times out of 36 starts. In the Brazilian, European, Canadian, Austrian, German, Italian, and United States Grands Prix, Verstappen and De la Rosa even came close to the podium before succumbing to inevitable mechanical failures, a sign of a car born from a solid design but unfortunately let down by subpar components.
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| ARROWS A21, Jos Verstappen Montrèal, Canadian GP 2000 |
At the end of the season, Walkinshaw’s team’s haul was still modest, with only 7 points and seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship. Nonetheless, the regained confidence from finding strong performance with the A21 made them look to the future with greater optimism. During the 2000 season, the English team was also featured in a television documentary called Racing Arrows. The series included 13 episodes following the team’s and drivers’ progress during the season and was broadcast on the British ITV channel in 2001.
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