Despite scoring two podiums in his debut season in the Formula One World Championship, it took Dutch F1 ace Jos Verstappen another five years and a really fast Arrows A21 car to come close to the F1 rostrum again. Breaking the lap record in pre-season testing at Barcelona the A21 driven by Verstappen and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was noted for consistently having amongst the highest straight-line speed of any car in the 2000 season.

4TH AT MONZA

The Arrows A21 sported an excellent aerodynamic package with a much lower centre of gravity over its predecessor. Powered by a 780 horsepower Renault V10-engine, revised by Supertec as the FP02, the ‘Orange’ backed A21 packed a serious punch. Unfortunately it wasn’t very reliable as Verstappen and De la Rosa finished only thirteen races that year. The Dutchman took an excellent 5^th. place in Canada, while the Spaniard finished 6^th. twice, while missing out on a podium finish through technical difficulties in Austria. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza marked Arrows’ best performance of the season when Verstappen took 4^th. behind Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinnen and Ralf Schumacher.

After a mediocre 2001 campaign Jos Verstappen was set to stay with the Arrows team the following season, but was dropped in favour of German Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Having suffered financial difficulties throughout its career, the Arrows team finally ran out of money during the 2002 season and went into liquidation by the end of it. The already developed Arrows A23 and the team’s property rights were purchased by Minardi which, ironically, signed Jos Verstappen as a driver. It would be Verstappen’s final year as an F1-driver. His run to 4^th. in the Arrows A21 at Monza would mark his last top five result.

This 2000 Arrows A21 still bears the original orange and black livery and is owned and driven by Dutch rally driver Erik van Loon.