The Road To Glory: The Story of Sammy Jones

[AndreaModa]

If you're wondering what's going on, here's the lowdown as to why Sammy Jones has restarted his career! (scroll to the bottom and my last post)

Throughout Britain in the 1990s there were many eager teenagers, working their way up the motorsport ladder, all sharing the same dream: to race, and of course win, in Formula One. Sammy Jones was one of those teenagers. After rising through karting and Formula Ford, Sammy made the jump to the British Formula 3 championship in 1997, finishing with a best result of 6th, 14th overall in the championship. A second attempt beckoned in 1998 and after 2 wins and numerous other podium finishes in an inferior car, second behind eventual winner Mario Haberfeld was enough to attract the attention of the Arrows F1 team, and following a test opportunity in November 1998 alongside both other potential Arrows drivers Pedro De La Rosa and Tora Takagi, Arrows finally announced it's official line-up for the upcoming season on 22nd January 1999.

22nd January 1999: Repsol TWR Arrows Press Release

Repsol TWR Arrows would like to confirm the signing for the 1999 season of the driving talents of Englishman Sammy Jones, last year's British Formula 3 runner-up. He will partner Pedro de la Rosa and drive car number 15 for the entire season. Sammy is an excellent acquisition for the team as it looks to build on the 7th place achieved in the Constructors’ Championship in the 1998 season. We're confident that alongside Pedro, Sammy will bring a dynamic and enthusiastic mood to the team, something he displayed with great effect in his seasons in the junior categories. As a rookie, expectations of Sammy are not going to be set high, but naturally we will push him to achieve his best for the team, and hopefully we will be rewarded well for his efforts. Repsol TWR Arrows has no doubt that the 1999 season will be one of the best seasons the team has ever experienced and the two drivers combined with an excellently designed car will demonstrate this fact. As a team we wish Sammy and Pedro too, the very best of luck for this season.

Testing the 1999 car, the A20, revealed the limitations that the team would be facing in what would likely be a tough season where the only thing the team could be sure of was where on the grid the car would be. Back row fillers alongside Minardi was doubtless not what Tom Walkinshaw wanted but with the aquisition of Tyrrell by promising new entrant British American Racing, it seemed Arrows would be once again slipping back down the order. The two drivers would be both competing in their first full F1 season, after De La Rosa had been Jordan tester the previous year, and with Sammy making the big step up from F3, some considered the young Brit out of his depth in Formula One.

And so into the 1999 season the F1 circus embarked, with the first round being as usual at Albert Park in Australia.

Round 1: Australia

With even a decent midfield performance out of reach, let alone points, the team were simply looking to do as best as they could. With more experience than Jones, De La Rosa was on the pace much quicker as Sammy took time to acclimatise himself to the circuit. By qualifying however, both had developed a decent setup, and gave their all around the streets. As the session concluded, the two teammates were together on the grid, but it was Jones who had out-performed De La Rosa, with the young Brit putting the Arrows 20th, half a second ahead of his teammate in 21st.

1. M Schumacher 1:30.070
2. Hakkinen 1:30.494
3. Coulthard 1:30.697
4. R Schumacher 1:31.381
5. Barrichello 1:31.678
6. Frentzen 1:32.089

19. Zonta 1:35.193
20. Jones 1:35.663
21. De La Rosa 1:36.123

After the solid but unspectacular qualifying in the dry, the whole field was thrown on Sunday morning when they woke up to steady rain. With no wet setup developed, the rookies particularly were on the back foot, and after some last minute changes in the warm up session, the Arrows team assembled on the wet grid with their ambitions for the race altered, now simply finishing in the horrible conditions would be good. Intermediates were the order of the day, the track was undoubtedly wet, but not enough to warrant the use of full wets. With a tank-full of fuel for a 1 stop strategy, Sammy was ready to race. He wasn't too troubled by the wet track, he'd grown up with plenty of that in Britain, but the car still wasn't too familiar and he hadn't developed the necessary confidence that a driver requires to perform best in the wet. As the grid emptied, it was time for the Arrows drivers' debuts with the red lights above them lighting up.

Lap 1
The trepidation from Jones was soon forgotten as a startline incident involving Trulli who failed to get away, combined with a good start in the slippery conditions lifted the rookie to a great 14th by the first corner, becoming 13th at turn 3 when he slipped up the inside of Villeneuve. The Canadian fought back though, and the young Brit showed no signs of being overwhelmed by the 1997 champion despite trading places a couple of times, by the end of the lap, the position was Sammy's.

Lap 4
With Jones' slow Arrows beginning to hold up many cars behind him, the intense pressure in his first race got to him as Villeneuve dived through at turn 11, and Alesi seized his opportunity in the gap created by the BAR to get by too. Jones was down to 15th.

Lap 5
The following lap saw Zanardi copy Villeneuve's trick as the top speed of the Arrows left Jones hopelessly vulnerable in the run to turn 11 and 12. Despite loosing another place, he was stretching the gap to his teammate who was languishing down with the Minardis at the tail of the field.

Lap 9
It's lap 9 before we see the first mistake from the rookie, something that was expected by the pundits much earlier in the race. Running wide at the slippery turn 9, Jones allows Zonta to squeeze through, though the tyres are holding up well as the rain hasn't worsened since the start.

Lap 13
Gene in 18th retires from the race with brake failure down at turn 3, leaving Jones in 17th with a comfortable gap of 7 seconds to De La Rosa who is finally beginning to find his feet in the tricky conditions. Up ahead in 16th, Zonta had already stretched his advantage to 5 seconds. The Arrows simply doesn't have the pace to keep up with the rest of the field, despite the best efforts of Sammy and Pedro.

Lap 17
The rain finally ended, leaving the drying track unsuitable for the worn intermediates, and Jones pits at the end of the lap, pre-empting the rest of the field who follow him in afterwards as they all switch to dry tyres. Unluckily for De La Rosa, the worn tyres catch him out, and he crashes out, leaving Jones as the sole remaining Arrows driver in the race with a large gap to Badoer in 18th.

Lap 22
Continuing in 17th with 20 seconds to both Zonta ahead and Badoer behind, Jones makes an unforced error at the exit of turn 2. It's still slippery off-line as the Arrows looses grip, spins and clouts the wall heavily leaving Sammy with no option but to retire.

A double DNF was the last thing the team needed on a clearly difficult weekend when the car's true pace was revealed, but both Pedro and Sammy had performed as best they could, two rookies racing at an unfamiliar track in very tricky conditions. The best the team could do was leave the weekend behind, and move onto the next race in Brazil. Walkinshaw was surprisingly upbeat after the race, taking a positive spin on things:

Naturally we're disappointed that neither car finished the race, but both drivers got some good mileage in the car which is incredibly important in F1 these days. We'll pack up for Brazil and hope for some better weather and better performances.

Elsewhere, Schumacher dominated to win the first race of 1999 and throw down the gauntlet to McLaren that this season would be no repeat of 1998.

1. M Schumacher 1:33:14.499
2. Hakkinen +16.695
3. R Schumacher +1 lap
4. Frentzen +1 lap
5. Fisichella +1 lap
6. Irvine +1 lap
7. Wurz +1 lap
8. Alesi +2 laps
9. Hill +2 laps
10. Zanardi +2 laps
11. Zonta +2 laps
12. Panis +2 laps

World Drivers Championship After 1 Round:
1. M Schumacher 10
2. Hakkinen 6
3. R Schumacher 4
4. Frentzen 3
5. Fisichella 2
6. Irvine 1

World Constructors Championship After 1 Round:
1. Ferrari 11
2. McLaren 6
3. Williams 4
4. Jordan 3
5. Benetton 2

[Debaser]

I love these threads - rock on dude.

[AndreaModa]

After neither car finished in Australia, the journey over to South America allowed the Arrows team some time to re-cap and prepare themselves better for round two at Brazil. Whilst the British press were taking keen interest in Sammy, the first new British driver in F1 since David Coulthard stepped in for Williams in 1994, the attention was not something the youngster needed to help him focus in what would be a difficult apprenticeship in the Arrows. So, putting the disappointment of Australia behind them, both Pedro and Sammy hoped the mix of fast straights and the tricky infield of Interlagos would bring them better fortune.

Round 2: Brazil

The first practice session was very wet, but the rain cleared up for the remaining sessions were set in good weather, and both Arrows drivers were able to make good progress with their dry setups, which for both resulted in improved performances in qualifying. Pedro moved up one place from Australia, and would start from 20th, but Jones pulled out all the stops in his final run, qualifying a very creditable 13th in only his second ever race. Would 13 prove to be an unlucky number for the Englishman though? Up at the front the McLarens locked out the front row, almost half a second quicker than Michael.

1. Hakkinen 1:14.485
2. Coulthard 1:14.520
3. M Schumacher 1:14.965
4. R Schumacher 1:15.075
5. Irvine 1:15.189
6. Barrichello 1:15. 263

12. Diniz 1:16.744
13. Jones 1:17.505
14. Fisichella 1:18.355

20. De La Rosa 1:21.535

After the miserable wet conditions of Australia, the drivers were greeted with pleasant sunny, but cool climes on Sunday for Brazil. On the form of testing, Arrows were expecting the lower temperatures to favour Sammy over Pedro, his more aggressive driving style and forceful throttle application would generate more heat in the tyres than Pedro's smoother style. Both opted for a two stop strategy, as did the rest of the field with hopes of high attrition that would not only give the team their first finishes, but perhaps even inside the top ten.

Lap 1
A good start from Sammy allows him to move up to 11th, despite Fisichella muscling his way down the inside of turn 1. Hill in 12th with the rest of the pack give chase, though the 11th position is secure for the Arrows driver as the field settled down into the race.

Lap 10
The gap to Fisichella from Jones had been stretched to almost 6 seconds by this point, overall the Arrows team are impressed with the young Brit's pace as whilst Hill and Alesi behind swap places like trading cards, neither can get close enough in the braking zones to make a move on the Arrows car. De La Rosa is meanwhile battling with the two Minardis, and eventually gains the upper hand and slowly begins to pull away.

Lap 16
Under continual pressure for a number of laps, Hill forces Sammy into an error at the exit of Pinheirinho which drops the Arrows to 13th as Alesi slips through too. As the fuel loads lighten, and the tyres become more worn, Jones finds it harder and harder to maintain the pace of the cars around him.

Lap 19
The deficiencies of the Arrows car gradually become more apparant and as Jones runs slightly wide at the Curva Sol, Villeneuve seizes the opportunity and slips through on the inside. Desperate to take the place back, Sammy brakes late and hard into the Bico de Pato hairpin and whilst briefly retaking 13th spot, he runs wide, allowing not only the BAR through but also Frentzen in the Jordan too and as a result the Arrows falls to 15th.

Lap 21
The first pitstop of Sammy's F1 career is made at the end of the lap, dropping the Brit to 20th and last though the gap to the Minardis ahead is only a couple of seconds which would cause Jones no problems at all. Despite stopping first, most of the field follow him in over the next few laps.

Lap 26
Badoer finally makes his first stop at the end of the lap, and as both Gene and Pedro had stopped together two laps previously the first round of stops are over, and Jones finds himself 17th, with a 5 second gap to Diniz in 16th. Both the Sauber and Zonta had managed to run longer and had jumped the Arrows in the flurry of stops.

Lap 33
A lapse in concentration from the rookie results in him running wide at turn 8, loosing Sammy no places, but the gap to teammate Pedro subsequently falls to about 13 seconds and Zonta now lying 16th has stretched his advantage to 9 seconds.

Lap 42
After a quiet middle stint of the race, Sammy makes his second stop of the race which goes well and holds him in 17th, due to the fact that De La Rosa had made his pitstop the lap previously. The two Arrows are now well clear of the Minardis, but neither quite have the speed to latch onto the back of the cars ahead.

Lap 43
On his outlap with cold tyres, Sammy gets caught out at the Ferradura corner and crashes out into the barriers. It was a real shame for the inexperienced Englishman who was running well and quicker than Pedro for much of the race.

Despite Sammy's second straight DNF, Pedro picked up the first finish for the team as he finished 12th, albeit second last and 3 laps down. The young Brit was bitterly disappointed after having run so well and having had some entertaining battles with much faster cars in the first third of the race. Having retired, he spoke to the media in the paddock:

Right now it's hard to describe my feelings, I gave my all today after qualifying yesterday went perfectly, and the team have given both myself and Pedro great cars today. I'm just gutted I couldn't repay their hard work with a decent race result. I stand by my belief that had I stayed in the race after my second stop, I had a realistic chance of catching Zonta which would have given us an even better result. As it is though, I'm very pleased for Pedro after his accident in Australia and it's great for the team to get it's first race finish today. Hopefully we can build on this at Imola in two weeks' time.

Sammy's honest, remorseful answer went down well with the public who took a liking to the hard-trying rookie, extracting the best out of a poor car even if that meant frequently making errors, resulting in two DNFs in the first two races. The Englishman could only hope for some better luck as the European season kicked off at the next round in San Marino. At the other end of the grid, Hakkinen and Schumacher fought out a close battle at the front, the Finn emerging the winner to go joint top with Schumi. Coulthard finished third, collecting more points for McLaren in the Constructors Championship. Villeneuve also brought home the first ever points for the new BAR team.

1. Hakkinen 1:29:55.932
2. M Schumacher +4.613
3. Coulthard +46.521
4. Fisichella +1 lap
5. Frentzen +1 lap
6. Villeneuve +1 lap
7. Barrichello +2 laps
8. Herbert +2 laps
9. Alesi +2 laps
10. Panis +2 laps
11. Zonta +3 laps
12. De La Rosa +3 laps
13. Badoer +3 laps

World Drivers Championship After 2 Rounds:
1. Hakkinen 16
= M Schumacher 16
3. Frentzen 5
= Fisichella 5
5. Coulthard 4
= R Schumacher 4
7. Irvine 1
= Villeneuve 1

World Constructors Championship After 2 Rounds:
1. McLaren 20
2. Ferrari 17
3. Jordan 5
= Benetton 5
5. Williams 4
6. BAR 1

[AndreaModa]

With two races down in the 1999 season, Sammy Jones had just two big DNFs next to his name, and that was something that despite his rookie status, wasn't acceptable as far as Tom Walkinshaw was concerned. With Pedro having got his first finish at Interlagos, the pressure was on for Sammy to prove that he wasn't the worse of the two rookies. Walkinshaw had this to say in the weeks between Brazil and San Marino:

About Sammy, we know the lad has talent, there's no denying that. But so far he's had two races admittedly Australia was a tough initiation, but we expected more at Brazil and whilst he ran well for much of the race, he let his concentration slip when it was most required on the cold tyres. I'll be keeping a close eye on the lad, like I have been since the start and I will do the same with Pedro. I expect mistakes from both of them at one point or another during the year - it's the nature of being new to the sport, but if we're looking at a third straight retirement down to driver error, then decisions will have to be taken.

So the pressure was on as the European season got underway at Imola. Sammy Jones needed everything he had to try and get himself back on his team owner's side else his F1 career would be on the line.

Round 3: San Marino

After the sunshine of Brazil, the circus came down to earth at Imola with shocking weather throughout practice. Heavy rain and strong winds ensured that all the drivers could do was simply focus on an extreme wet weather set up. Both Arrows drivers struggled to get to grips with the awful conditions, but come qualifying, the rain had stopped, the sun was out, but the track surface was still pretty wet. Both forced to improvise with their set up, Sammy got up to speed better than Pedro who languished down in 22nd place, a full 2.5 seconds slower than the Englishman in 17th. Meanwhile the elder of the Schumachers took pole by nearly a full second. The Tifosi were delighted.

1. M Schumacher 1:32.415
2. Hakkinen 1:33.231
3. Coulthard 1:33.827
4. Barrichello 1:33.982
5. R Schumacher 1:34.797
6. Zanardi 1:35.527

16. Zonta 1:37.411
17. Jones 1:37.900
18. Panis 1:38.543

22. De La Rosa 1:40.501

From the monsoon-like conditions of most of the weekend, came the hot, dry weather of Sunday, a perfect day to go racing. The contrast couldn't be greater and after the drivers knocked together dry setups quickly during the warm up session, it would be about who could get the most out of their cars once the lights went out. Both Sammy and Pedro knew they'd have struggled in the wet, so the dry conditions were a big relief. The Spaniard in particular had a lot of work to do from last place. Once again two stop strategies were the order of the day.

Lap 1
From a good start, Sammy was able to make up a number of places and with incidents as always on lap 1, he found himself upto 12th, though Villeneuve wasn't happy behind the Arrows and dived in front at Variante Bassa and pulled away.

Lap 4
The pace of the Arrows was very poor at Imola and that's demonstrated by the queue of cars behind Jones' Arrows. Frentzen in 14th makes a dive down the inside at Piratella and gets ahead, though Sammy showed some great determination and an entertaining but short battle follows around Aqua Minerale and upto Variante Alta where the Arrows brakes later than the Jordan to retake 13th. With no contact, Frentzen spins on the kerb of the chicane and falls down the order. The gap to Villeneuve ahead is already up to 8 seconds.

Lap 7
The gap ahead continues to grow but the retirement of Hill promotes Sammy to 12th, with Alesi the only driver behind the Arrows as Frentzen's spin has left the cars behind much further back.

Lap 21
After a long period of withstanding Alesi's pressure, the Frenchman cracks and has to pit for fuel and tyres at the end of the lap. Sammy's strategy has left him with an additional 5 laps worth of fuel in which to try and create a gap between himself and the Sauber. At this point also, Herbert's Stewart gives up, meaning Jones is up to 11th.

Lap 26
Continuing in 11th with the gap ahead much too large to do anything about, Sammy comes in for his first stop. The crew do a good job, but it's not good enough to keep the Arrows in 11th as Sammy falls to 14th with Alesi sneaking through along with Zonta and Badoer who have both yet to stop.

Lap 27
Both Zonta and Badoer make their stops at the end of the lap, promoting young Sammy back up to 12th with the gap to Alesi at 8 seconds. Diniz in the other Sauber has closed down the gap to the Arrows very quickly and is less than 3 seconds back.

Lap 30
A frustrated Jones half spins at the exit of Tosa after Diniz follows the frontrunning Irvine through a gap left by Sammy to allow the Ferrari to lap him. Jones attempts to repass Diniz under braking at Tosa, but instead taps the Sauber, leaving the Arrows pointing at the barriers and allowing the Sauber to pull away. All this leaves the struggling Brit in 15th.

Lap 37
By this point, both Fisichella and Wurz in the Benettons were out, the latter from suspension damage gained when Fisichella hit him and retired himself, as well as Frentzen who's gearbox packed up in the Jordan. These retirements hand Sammy 12th place once more.

Lap 49
Perhaps one of the key moments of the race, leader Michael Schumacher's engine fails him as he runs down the hill to Rivazza, forcing him to pull the Ferrari over onto the grass to retire. This puts Sammy 11th, but not before he made his final stop at the end of lap 49, emerging just ahead of Badoer who was fired up in front of the Italian fans, out-performing teammate Gene considerably.

Lap 52
Slipping further and further back from the leaders, despite gaining places from retirements, Sammy is still ahead of Pedro on the road, with the Spaniard running 13th and last behind Badoer. The Italian nips past Jones at Rivazza when the Englishman runs slightly wide on lap 51, and on the next lap, Sammy moves to the inside at the same point on the circuit to outbreak the Minardi and re-take 11th. However Badoer in an act of insanity, simply turns in on the Arrows as if it wasn't there, causing the Minardi to roll into the gravel and out, whilst Jones suffers a broken front wing which he is forced to replace in the pits, dropping him behind De La Rosa and into 12th and last place.

Lap 59
Three laps down and on his final full lap, Jones picks up a puncture whilst running over the kerbs of Variante Alta. He does well to control the car, despite a small, slow spin at Rivazza and is able to complete the race with the deflated tyre.

For the first time in 1999 the Arrows team managed to get both cars to the finish, with Pedro finishing 12th ahead of Sammy in 13th. The Englishman, whilst delighted to complete his first full race distance, was fuming over the behaviour of Luca Badoer after the Italian's actions on the 52nd lap. In a post race interview, he had this to say about the incident, as well as his race:

Yeah, overall I'm absolutely thrilled to finally get to the finish and even though we're only 3 races in, the pressure of finishing a race was already beginning to hang over me so it's great to finally get that out of the way. However whilst in no way detracting from the efforts of the team who did a superb job today, especially the pitstops, the car itself felt like it was standing still half the time. Bearing in mind I completed the first lap in 13th position, with all the attrition, a top ten finish was definately on the cards, if I could have just remotely matched the pace of the Saubers, and BARs. For once instead of simply falling back and constantly being overtaken, it would do both myself and Pedro the power of good if we could actually overtake for once. But we do the best with the tools we're given and the double finish today is a great reward for that. What's that? What did I think of Badoer's move? Well how long has the guy been in F1? He's been trundling round the back of the grid since I was in karts so he should know when someone is down the inside of him at the apex of a corner. I'd put a tenner on him never scoring! Who wants a bet?

After the damning assessment of Badoer, the Italian announced he'd never speak to Sammy again, and that "he should'a watch'a out at'a the next race." Whilst it was all kicking off at the back of the field, at the head, McLaren took full advantage of Schumacher's demise with an emphatic 1-2, both Hakkinen and McLaren with large leads in their respective championships. Irvine picked up the pieces for Ferrari with a consolation third. Schumacher would have to produce a fine performance at the next race in Monaco to keep himself in touch with the Finn.

1. Hakkinen 1:31:13:944
2. Coulthard +19.803
3. Irvine +53.459
4. Barrichello +1.01.154
5. R Schumacher +1 lap
6. Villeneuve +1 lap
7. Zanardi +1 lap
8. Alesi +2 laps
9. Zonta +2 laps
10. Diniz +2 laps
11. De La Rosa +3 laps
12. Jones +3 laps

World Drivers Championship After 3 Rounds:
1.Hakkinen 26
2. M Schumacher 16
3. Coulthard 10
4. R Schumacher 6
5. Irvine 5
= Frentzen 5
= Fisichella 5
8. Barrichello 3
9. Villeneuve 2

World Constructors Championship After 3 Rounds:
1. McLaren 36
2. Ferrari 21
3. Williams 6
4. Jordan 5
5. Benetton 5
6. Stewart 3
7. BAR 2

[AndreaModa]

From Imola it was the short hop over to France and Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. A prime investor of Arrows during the 1999 season was based there and made it part of the contract that whilst Arrows would get substantial funding, in return they were required to produce a respectable enough performance at Monaco to demonstrate to the mysterious investor that he was getting a good return. It was how most deals were done, but in this case, the team had prepared a special update for the car to help it around the streets. On the back of their first two car finish, Arrows were hoping for more in what was always an eventful race. Attrition was sure to be high, and that meant being in the best place to take full advantage of that. The pressure on Sammy had fell a little now that he had demonstrated that he was capable of racing and making it to the finish, and both himself and Pedro were looking forward to their first F1 race through the twisty streets.

Round 4: Monaco

It was clear from the outset of practice that the updates made the Arrows much more competitive. With dry conditions, Pedro was able to set the 16th best time, the highest he'd taken the car all season. However Sammy was also flying and comfortably made it into the top ten, a great achievement in his first visit to the track. Primarily this had been helped by the Brit completing as many laps as possible in order to familiarise himself with the circuit, and the practice clearly paid off. By qualifying which was also dry, both were even more confident. During the session though, De La Rosa suffered from gearbox problems which prevented him from setting a quick time, leaving him down in 21st, but unhindered, teammate Jones pulled out all the stops to qualify 6th, albeit half a second behind Barrichello, but still a fantastic achievement, and one which turned a few heads in the paddock.

1. M Schumacher 1:24.029
2. Coulthard 1:24.487
3. Hakkinen 1:24.851
4. R Schumacher 1:25.387
5. Barrichello 1:25.532
6. Jones 1:26.084

21. De La Rosa 1:32.826

So with a somewhat mixed bag in the way of qualifying results, the team and their two rookies were ready for the race on Sunday, which was scorching hot - track temperatures were recorded at 44 degrees prior to the start and on the soft tyre there would be plenty of grip out there. Sammy opted for a two stop strategy, despite expecting most of the cars to one-stop, he needed to make the most of his good position. The grid cleared and the lights went out, now the fun, and carnage, could begin.

Lap 1
A poor start from Sammy allows Irvine to pull alongside and slot into 6th by St. Devote, but the Arrows dives down the inside under braking at Mirabeau and retakes 6th place. Incidents further back involving Irvine mean that by the end of the lap Zanardi is 7th, three seconds back.

Lap 2
Coulthard damages his suspension after brushing a barrier, and subsequently crashes the McLaren at the second Swimming Pool chicane. Hakkinen in third can only hit the back of the stricken car. The incident promotes the Arrows to fourth, and whilst Couthard is out, Hakkinen is able to pit for repairs and falls down the order.

Lap 8
Continuing to run well, Sammy is able to stay right with Barrichello, keeping the gap at just under a second whilst Irvine is back in fifth nearly 7 seconds back. Pedro was up to a superb 9th thanks to plenty of retirements and pit stops for damaged cars, but at Tabac he's hit by Hill in a big crash and is forced to retire.

Lap 13
Tabac is the scene of another incident for Arrows, this time Sammy runs slightly wide and clips his front wing on the outer barrier. He pits immediately for a new one and takes on enough fuel to ensure he only needs to stop once more. Both Irvine and Fisichella climb to fourth and fifth respectively as a result and Sammy exits the pits in sixth, 16 seconds ahead of Badoer who like Pedro had done, was capitalising on the number of pit stops being made by cars in front.

Lap 18
Despite coming out with 40 laps worth of fuel in the car, Sammy closes the 8 second gap to Fisichella in five laps and pressures the Benetton as he tries to find a way past.

Lap 19
Coming through Mirabeau and under braking for the Loews hairpin, Giancarlo brakes quite early, catching the hard charging Jones unawares who hits the back of the Benetton, putting Fisichella out and resulting in Sammy requiring a new front wing once again. Fortunately the necessary pit stop keeps the Arrows in fifth as Badoer is still behind doing a solid job of ruining everyone's race behind him! Emerging from the pit lane, Sammy has a comfortable 7 second advantage over the Minardi.

Lap 31
With all of the frontrunners having pitted, Irvine was able to jump Barrichello for third spot, but both come across Villeneuve whom they lap whilst crossing the start line, but the BAR's brakes fail into Ste. Devote, collecting both the Stewart and the Ferrari in a spectacular incident. Both Irvine and Villeneuve were out with too much damage, but Barrichello is able to continue and only has to pit for a new front wing. That stop lifts Sammy's Arrows to an incredible third, with Hakkinen finally recovering from his second lap incident at a steady 18 seconds behind. Up ahead Ralf Schumacher's Williams is a further 20 seconds away.

Lap 42
As the race continues, a few mistakes begin to creep into Sammy's driving resulting in the gap to Ralf lengthening to 24 seconds, enough for the Williams to pit and emerge still with 4 seconds over the Arrows.

Lap 51
Having very slowly closed the gap to the Williams, helped in part by slow backmarkers, Ralf is slowly backing both himself and the Arrows of Jones into the closing Hakkinen, as the gap falls to just six seconds. At the end of the lap though, the McLaren pits, with Sammy's final stop due only a couple of laps later.

Lap 52
Anxious that Ralf is holding Sammy up, but unable to get by, the Brit gets on the radio and asks to pit early to avoid Hakkinen jumping him in the stops. The request is granted, and Sammy pits at the end of the lap and fortunately comes out with a mere two seconds over the McLaren.

Lap 54
Apart from the pit stops, the Monaco streets had been fairly bereft of incident since Villeneuve's brake failure, but it all kicked off once more on lap 54 when a quick but frustrated Barrichello tried a move on Hakkinen at Portier of all places, pitching the McLaren out of the race and giving the Stewart pit crew more work as the Brazilian needed another new front wing. Diniz also manages to hit the stricken McLaren but continues after pitting. It leaves young Sammy Jones all alone and comfortable with Ralf in the Williams still second and 25 seconds ahead with Barrichello in fourth after his stop a full 32 seconds behind.

Lap 76
Having settled down into a rhythm once more and taking it easy to close out the race, with only two laps to go it all comes unstuck for Sammy, loosing grip at the entrance to Casino Square on what was probably some fluid on the track, putting the Arrows into the barriers, unable to continue. Fortunately, with only 8 cars still in the race, Sammy was far enough ahead to still be classified a superb fourth in what had been a remarkable race.

In what some pundits would remark as a 'watershed' race for young Sammy, the Englishman had brought home the first points for Arrows in the season and despite the late error that cost him a podium finish, he was overjoyed when interviewed afterwards:

Wow what a race! That has to be one of the most draining drives I've ever done, the concentration required to get the car round in between the barriers is just incredible. I'm really surprised I didn't have more incidents and I came close more than once. Naturally I'm disappointed with the crash at the end, but the front simply lost grip and when that happens at Monaco, there's no time for correction and I couldn't do anything. My only guess is that there must have been something left there the previous lap as the car had felt fine right up until then and I was taking the same line into there every lap. I'd also like to take this opportunity and publicly apologise to Fisichella after the accident at the hairpin. But aside from that, absolutely over the moon, its only my second race finish, and I score a handful of points too. Really thrilled! Wow it feels like I've won the whole thing! Probably good I didn't else I don't think it would have been good for my health!

The whole team, including Pedro for whom a strong result seemed on the cards before his retirement was delighted with Sammy's result. The special upgrades had paid off and the mysterious investor was happy too. Team owner Tom Walkinshaw had this to say about the performance:

Yes of course, absolutely delighted for young Sammy. He's done a fine job throughout the weekend, and this combined with the finish at Imola has confirmed to the watching world that we were right to take a chance on him. He doesn't have the experience, and his ability still needs refining, but he has some raw pace and hopefully we'll be witnessing a few more excellent performances from this young man in the not too distant future. Yes that's right, it's true that I was unhappy with him after Brazil, but he's responded well to the criticisms and what you've witnessed today is the result of that.

So with Arrows off and running in the Constructors Championship and Sammy Jones opening his own account too, things were looking up for the small team. At the top of the championship though, Michael Schumacher lapped the entire field to take a magnificant win and go back level with Hakkinen at the top of the table. With McLaren failing to score it meant Ferrari were much closer in the Constructors table too. Double scores for both Williams and Stewart boosted their fortunes also.

1. M Schumacher 1:53:47.974
2. R Schumacher +1 lap
3. Barrichello +1 lap
4. Jones 76 laps (accident)
5. Zanardi +2 laps
6. Herbert +2 laps
7. Diniz +2 laps
8. Badoer +2 laps

World Drivers Championship After 4 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 26
= Hakkinen 26
3. R Schumacher 12
4. Coulthard 10
5. Barrichello 7
6. Irvine 5
= Frentzen 5
= Fisichella 5
9. Jones 3
10. Zanardi 2
= Villeneuve 2
12. Herbert 1

World Constructors Championship After 4 Rounds:
1. McLaren 36
2. Ferrari 31
3. Williams 14
4. Stewart 8
5. Jordan 5
= Benetton 5
7. Arrows 3
8. BAR 2

[tommykl]

Unrejectified in just your 4th race! You've bested Chris Dagnall!

[TomWazzleshaw]

Unrejectified in just your 4th race! You've bested Chris Dagnall!

I assume you're taking my results with a massive grain of salt considering they were all in a Ferrari (The F2005 mind you which isn't the greatest car in history)

[tommykl]

Unrejectified in just your 4th race! You've bested Chris Dagnall!

I assume you're taking my results with a massive grain of salt considering they were all in a Ferrari (The F2005 mind you which isn't the greatest car in history)

I said he beat Chris Dagnall, I never mentioned you...

[TomWazzleshaw]

Unrejectified in just your 4th race! You've bested Chris Dagnall!

I assume you're taking my results with a massive grain of salt considering they were all in a Ferrari (The F2005 mind you which isn't the greatest car in history)

I said he beat Chris Dagnall, I never mentioned you...

Sorry... I can become a massive attention seeker at times. Have some popcorn as a peace offering *Hears chorus of groans from the regular forum users*

[thehemogoblin]

*Hears chorus of groans from the regular forum users*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

[TomWazzleshaw]

Oh come on... I've still got several tons of the stuff I need to offload.

[thehemogoblin]

Oh come on... I've still got several tons of the stuff I need to offload.

I don't like popcorn.

[tommykl]

Oh come on... I've still got several tons of the stuff I need to offload.

I don't like popcorn.

Neither do I...Do you have chocolate?

[dr-baker]

Oh come on... I've still got several tons of the stuff I need to offload.

I don't like popcorn.

Neither do I...

Nor me, but I do like the smell.

[AndreaModa]

I hate the smell (cinemas stink of the stuff) but if it's the toffee flavour variety I'll help myself thanks!

Anyway, after a two week break, the 1999 F1 Championship resumed in Spain for round 5. After Monaco, Arrows were off and running in the Constructors Championship, and Sammy Jones was looking to build on his performance as his confidence in the top tier of motorsport gradually grew. It was also the home race for teammate Pedro De La Rosa who was eager to get back on terms with Sammy and score points for the team. After the special upgrades for Monaco though, the team would certainly be coming back down to earth towards the rear of the field once more. Catalunya was the site of the team's first meaningful test which evidenced the deficiences of the car in comparision with the rest of the field, but with data already gathered, the Arrows boys were hoping for at least some improvement now that it actually mattered.

Round 5: Spain

The comfortably warm climes of Spain allowed plenty of time to cure what was discovered to be chronic understeer on both Arrows cars, although the straight line speed down the main straight left much to be desired also. Sammy in particular struggled with the car, and whilst various improvements gained him over a second a lap, he was simply no-where near Pedro who had the motivation of his home crowd cheering him on. Come qualifying, the Spaniard pulled out an excellent lap to qualify 8th, his best of the season so far. Sammy meanwhile was propping up the grid in 22nd, his worst of the year which didn't help his confidence, nor did a spin into the barriers on his second run, luckily only causing some minor damage. So with the positions reversed in comparision to Monaco, the Arrows team once more had a mixed result after qualifying.

1. M Schumacher 1:22.862
2. Hakkinen 1:23.176
3. Coulthard 1:23.244
4. Irvine 1:23.889
5. Barrichello 1:24.013
6. R Schumacher 1:24.309

8. De La Rosa 1:24.625

20. Badoer 1:28.649
21. Zanardi 1:28.866
22. Jones 1:28.931

After some overnight rain, the track was left wet as the grid assembled for the race, but no more rain was falling and conditions were predicted to get better as the race went on. Taking this into account, Sammy opted to use his dry setup on a two stop strategy, but with intermediates for the period whilst the track was still quite moist. Up at the front, Pedro was gearing up for his first race at the sharp end, and in front of the home fans he was a little more anxious to perform well than normal. With a decent bit of attrition and a good strategy, he was right in the hunt for a point or two.

Lap 1
Trulli's Prost remained stationary on the grid as the field pulled away, as the French team's shocking record of unreliability continued - Panis had brought home the team's only finishes so far in Australia and Brazil. It was an additional obstacle that Sammy had to avoid but despite that, some gutsy late braking in the slippery conditions whilst the pack remained bunched lifted the Brit up to 15th by the end of the lap.

Lap 2
A superb dice between Sammy and Johnny Herbert for 14th place eventually saw the Stewart come out on top, but Jones was making a good example of his battling style whilst in inferior machinery.

Lap 3
Under pressure but keeping up with the pack, Jones puts a wheel on the kerb of the inside of turn 1, the slippy concrete causes the Arrows to spin round and fall to last, but with the pack so bunched together still, he's quickly back on the tail of the Minardis. Further ahead, Pedro is struggling against the faster cars around him and is slowly slipping down the order.

Lap 9
Back ahead of both Minardis in 19th place, but with the field clearly fragmented, Sammy makes the call to the pits to take a gamble and switch to dry tyres with the track still drying out. It's a risk, but with the car off the pace anyway, he doesn't have much to loose with everyone else having to pit at some point in the future for drys.

Lap 10
After the subsequent stop the Arrows is clearly last, but Fisichella's Benetton goes out which hands Sammy 20th position.

Lap 17
The track simply isn't drying out fast enough, and the dry tyres are causing Sammy to slide the car all over the place, and whilst Zanardi gets stuck in third gear promoting the youngster to 19th, on the same lap, he's lapped by teammate Pedro who by this time was at the rear of the midfield. Neither Arrows is remotely competitive.

Lap 18
It was clear that being lapped by his teammate was the final straw for Sammy who pits on the next lap, filling the tank with fuel and taking on a new set of intermediate tyres. The resultant stop leaves him over a lap behind the entire field though.

Lap 22
Pedro's luck runs out with a gearbox failure in his home race, though by the time of his retirement, he was completely out of the hunt for points. It's a sad end to the Spaniard's day but any car other than the Arrows would have given him a better shot today.

Lap 23
Panis blows his engine, giving the Prost team yet another double retirement, however it also lifts Sammy into 17th place.

Lap 26
Attempting to simply keep the gap constant to the Minardis in front, Jones spins at the exit of the final corner, across the track, into the pit wall and into retirement. It's been comfortably the worst weekend for the team so far and neither driver was available for comment following their exits from the race, both escaping to the comforts of the hotel to reluctantly reflect on a horrible event.

After the race however, Tom Walkinshaw gave his analysis of the weekend:

It has, quite simply, been a forgettable whole weekend. The car has been no-where since Friday and only a bit of motivation for Pedro at his home race got him into 8th on the grid, perhaps the only piece of good news we've had. I feel partly personally responsible for ruining his first ever home race and I hope that results in the rest of the year go some way to making that up for him. As for Sammy, he took the gamble with the dry tyres, we thought too that the track would dry quicker than it did and it backfired horribly for us. The accident wasn't his fault though, in previous races in such conditions he would have crashed much earlier and he was driving the wheels off the car to try and prevent further embarrasment to the team. Of course, I'd rather he hadn't given us another repair bill but I'll have a word with him later and clear that one up.

Later on, having calmed down somewhat and having had a few words from Tom Walkinshaw in his ear, Sammy returned to the circuit to confront the media awaiting his comments:

Practice was difficult. Qualifying was a shocker. The race was a nightmare. It really is as simple as that. Both myself and Pedro were out well before half distance and the car itself was awful. There were moments in that race when I questioned what I was actually doing racing a car that was a good half second a lap at least off the midfield and was even struggling to stay with the Minardis. I don't know how Pedro got the car to 8th on the grid, but he did a mighty job that's for certain and didn't deserve more unreliability again. To sum up: I never want a race like that again, if I do, I'll pull out and retire on the spot, because what went on out there wasn't fun and wasn't worthwhile and it was wasting everybody's time in the team.

Whilst the Arrows cars were left behind, the leaders enacted a rather dull procession that meant the top 6 were as they lined up on the grid, with the exception of Villeneuve in fifth in place of Barrichello who retired. Schumacher's win gave him a slender lead in the Drivers' Championship and the head of the Constructors' Championship tightened up as both cars for Ferrari and McLaren finished. Villeneuve's fifth put BAR back ahead of Arrows too.

1. M Schumacher 1:36:15.227
2. Hakkinen +11.525
3. Coulthard +29.635
4. Irvine +1 lap
5. Villeneuve +1 lap
6. R Schumacher +1 lap
7. Frentzen +1 lap
8. Alesi +2 laps
9. Wurz +2 laps
10. Hill +2 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 5 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 36
2. Hakkinen 32
3. Coulthard 14
4. R Schumacher 13
5. Irvine 8
6. Barrichello 7
7. Frentzen 5
= Fisichella 5
9. Villeneuve 4
10. Jones 3
11. Zanardi 2
12. Herbert 1

World Constructors' Championship After 5 Rounds
1. McLaren 46
2. Ferrari 44
3. Williams 15
4. Stewart 8
5. Jordan 5
= Benetton 5
7. BAR 4
8. Arrows 3

[AndreaModa]

From Catalunya, the F1 circus swiftly upped sticks and made the annual trip across the pond to North America. For the Arrows team, the Canadian race couldn't come sooner. Despite the overall slowness of the cars, the team were confident the stop-start chicanes and quick accelerations would suit the car in a similar way to Monaco. With that in mind it was a refreshed and rejuvenated Sammy Jones that arrived at the Montreal circuit on the Friday to begin setting the car up, having come to terms with the disaster at Spain and confident of turning things back around for the team. Additonally the rumour mill was beginning to get up to speed, with both Sauber and Prost reportedly unhappy with the performances of their respective drivers, as well as rumours that Stewart were to swap Barrichello for Irvine with Ferrari at the season's end.

Round 6: Canada

Practice arrived cool and dry, allowing the teams plenty of time to perfect a dry setup in time for the race. and for Arrows, it was immediately obvious that the car's characteristics were much better suited to Montreal than they ever were at Catalunya. The gathering of data was all in vain however for not the first time this season, after a dry practice, a wet qualifying session followed. It meant gambling with setup changes which Sammy got right and he flew round, higher than he'd managed through all of practice to line up an incredible fifth, now his best qualifying of the year. Pedro meanwhile got it wrong and after a heavy crash in the tricky conditions, was unable to improve on the 'banker lap' he set at the start of the session, leaving him down in 22nd. And so for the third race in a row, there was an Arrows car at each end of the grid. On the front row, Schumacher and Hakkinen were truly dominant, both over a full second faster than anyone else, and the Ferrari was even further ahead than that.

1. M Schumacher 1:27.772
2. Hakkinen 1:28.499
3. R Schumacher 1:29.668
4. Coulthard 1:29.784
5. Jones 1:30.035
6. Barrichello 1:30.274

22. De La Rosa 1:37.053

After the warm up was dry, the race brought a further twist in the Montreal weather as a shower prior to the race left the track in a very tricky state: slightly wet and drying, but more rain was expected later on in the race. With difficult decisions to make, Sammy opted to stick with the wet setup developed for qualifying and on a one stop strategy. Along with the rest of the field including Pedro, he started on dry tyres, it simply wasn't wet enough for intermediates and certainly not wets. With what seemed like a tough, demanding 70 laps to race on a slippery track surrounded by barriers, the drivers would be really earning their salaries this time round.

Lap 1
Sammy gets away well off the line and is able to hold fifth place from Villeneuve and Trulli who were behind and giving chase. Barrichello had stalled it on the line and so perhaps the closest challenger to Sammy was out before a wheel had been turned.

Lap 2
Pedro's luck runs out yet again as the Spaniard is out for the third consecutive race, this time driver error is to blame as he misses his braking point at turn 3 and smashes into the barriers and straight into retirement.

Lap 7
An incident involving the front three at the hairpin results in Michael Schumacher spinning and dropping to fourth. The Ferrari rejoins the track right in front of the Arrows of Jones, and although the Brit tried to apply some pressure, the German was soon off into the distance.

Lap 8
Under some heavy pressure from Villeneuve, the BAR finally sneaks up the inside of Sammy at the final chicane to take fifth. But after beginning lap 9, the Arrows dives up the inside at turn 1 which the Canadian defends well, though it allows Sammy to switch back, pull alongside, and take the inside for the long turn 2. As both try to put the power down to get to turn 3 first, the two cars touch wheels, with disastrous consequences for Villeneuve who swerves into the barriers on the outside, putting him out of his home race. The accident was 50/50 and whilst Sammy came off unhurt and having seemingly gained an advantage, the stewards viewed it as simply a racing incident.

Lap 13
With the track having dried significantly up to this point, the drizzle begins to fall once more. Trulli is still rooted to the gearbox of Jones and hassling him for fifth position. He's the only one behind though as the two cars are well clear of the midfield pack at this point.

Lap 23
With conditions steadily worsening as the track gets wetter, the field begins to crack and the cars trickle into the pits for intermediates. With the wet setup for the car, Sammy's Arrows is running beautifully, with the gap to Trulli having opened up to 7 seconds as the Prost struggles in the rain. Ralf Schumacher pits at the end of this lap which promotes Sammy to fourth who decides to stick with his dry tyres for a couple more laps to see if the rain eases off once more.

Lap 25
After Trulli pitted at the end of lap 24, Sammy begins lap 25 in third, just in front of Michael Schumacher as the German emerged from the pit lane. However a mistake at turn six resulting in the Arrows running across the gravel seems to make Sammy's mind up about the intermediates. He's on the radio to the team to tell them he's stopping at the end of the lap. Despite a quick stop, and having now switched to a two stop strategy, Sammy exits the pits just three seconds behind Ralf in the Williams in 4th.

Lap 28
As the rain continues to fall, the Arrows just keeps getting better and better and by lap 28, Sammy is right up behind Ralf Schumacher and actually passes him down the inside under the bridge at turn 8 to go a magnificent fourth.

Lap 41
A lengthy period of calm follows as Sammy pulls out a ten second gap over the Williams behind. However a lapse of concentration sees the Brit spin on the kerb at the exit of turn 2, miraculously avoiding the barriers and back up to speed again with the gap to Ralf down to just over 5 seconds.

Lap 48
The gap from Sammy to Michael Schumacher ahead in third is at 39 seconds at this point, with 6 seconds back to his brother Ralf as the Arrows driver made his final pitstop, the first car to do so for the second round of stops. The track had begun to dry out in the previous few laps so Sammy takes on the rest of his fuel and a set of dry tyres before rejoining in fifth, with Frentzen in sixth miles back, the gap was well over 30 seconds before the Englishman had pitted. Trulli meanwhile had been out for a number of laps after suffering yet another mechanical failure, this time gearbox troubles.

Lap 51
Ralf Schumacher pits at the end of the lap, but crucially Sammy misses his braking point at the hairpin, and the Arrows runs wide loosing vital time. As he crosses the line to start lap 52, Sammy looks to his left to see Ralf exiting the pits right alongside him! The Williams has the inside for turn 1 and Sammy can do nothing but simply concede the 4th place. Despite almost re-taking the place at turn 3, the Arrows doesn't have anything like the pace in the drier conditions and Ralf begins to pull slowly away. After Frentzen made his stop, the gap back to the Jordan is back up to some 30 seconds.

Lap 61
Having just been lapped by leader Hakkinen, Sammy is a spectator as the Finn throws the lead and a comfortable win away at the hairpin in a huge smash due to brake failure. This retirement gives Sammy fourth place back as Frentzen closes in on the now slower Arrows with the gap halved to 15 seconds.

Lap 67
Once lapped by new leader Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, and delay from letting them through as a result, Sammy's advantage over Frentzen is cut to a slender 5 seconds. The Arrows in the dry is nowhere near the pace of anyone in the top half of the field.

Lap 69
Frentzen closes right up to the back of the Arrows on the final lap but the determined young Brit holds the Jordan off to seal another marvelous fourth place.

The 1999 Canadian Grand Prix had come down to making the right gamble, and Sammy Jones in his Arrows made the right one. Choosing to compromise the car in the initial dry conditions in the hope that the weather would worsen, he was able to almost challenge Ralf Schumacher's Williams for the final podium place whilst the rain fell and the wet setup Arrows made the most of its preferred conditions. Another solid points finish for the team was a superb answer to the doubters after the trials of Spain. An ecstatic Jones was eagerly on hand to describe his race to reporters afterwards:

Oh man! What a race that was, conditions were all over the place for that one! We went with the wet setup we used in qualifying which wasn't working for the first ten or so laps, I had first of all Villeneuve and then Trulli all over me. About the incident with Jaques, I'm sorry he retired in his home race but in reality the incident was six of one, half a dozen of the other, we were alongside each other and both trying to get to turn 3 first. It was inevitable that we'd touch at some point and never at any point did I intend to put him out, let me make that clear. Anyway once the rain fell, even on the dry tyres the car felt fantastic and I made up so much time it was untrue. I can't believe I actually passed Ralf for fourth was it? Insane! That's like my first competitive overtake this year I think, in all the other races I seem to have just gone backwards so to get past him was surreal! The pace at the end wasn't great, but we knew that and it was just a case of damage limitation, not getting in the way of the leaders, and trying to slow the rate at which Frentzen was closing the gap on me. Luckily he only caught me on the last lap, I think if it had been any earlier I may have fallen to fifth, but equalling my best result, along with my best ever qualifying has to make this my best weekend so far. Absolutely over the moon with this, everyone's done a great job to get us where we are, hopefully we can now build on this back in Europe!

So as Arrows jump back ahead of BAR and also pass Benetton in the Constructors' Championship, at the front, Coulthard inherited an easy win, leading home Michael Schumacher who had recovered well from his lap 7 spin to close right up to the McLaren and now took a commanding lead in the Drivers' Championship. Irvine in sixth also made it a good day's work for Maranello, but with Coulthard's 10 points, the gap to McLaren had opened up slightly.

1. Coulthard 1:40:29.219
2. M Schumacher +2.049
3. R Schumacher +1:13.598
4. Jones +1 lap
5. Frentzen +1 lap
6. Irvine +1 lap
7. Herbert +1 lap
8. Hill +1 lap
9. Panis +1 lap
10.Wurz +1 lap
11. Alesi +2 laps
12. Zonta +2 laps
13. Badoer +2 laps
14. Zanardi +2 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 6 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 42
2. Hakkinen 32
3. Coulthard 24
4. R Schumacher 17
5. Irvine 9
6. Barrichello 7
= Frentzen 7
8. Jones 6
9. Fisichella 5
10. Villeneuve 4
11. Zanardi 2
12. Herbert 1

World Constructors' Championship After 6 Rounds:
1. McLaren 56
2. Ferrari 51
3. Williams 19
4. Stewart 8
5. Jordan 7
6. Arrows 6
7. Benetton 5
8. BAR 4

[AndreaModa]

With the brief North American leg of the championship over with, it was back to Europe for Formula 1, and to France at the rather plain and featureless Magny Cours circuit. Arrows were having a somewhat up and down season so far, approaching the halfway point they had already equalled the previous season's points haul, but results had been inconsistant. Sammy Jones and his two fourth places had scored all the team's points, whilst teammate Pedro De La Rosa had finished just two races so far and had yet to break into the top ten, with the exception of his 8th place grid spot at Spain. The team simply needed more finishes and fewer mistakes and they were all hoping the return to Europe would allow them to settle down and develop some sort of consistency. Rumours that Tom Walkinshaw was to axe at least one of the two Arrows drivers at the end of the year wasn't helping the feeling within the garage either.

Round 7: France

After the mixed weather of the past few races, it was with some relief that the forecast for Magny Cours was dry throughout the weekend. Glorious warm sunshine was the backdrop as the Arrows team got to work in practice, producing some positive results with the race setup, though the car was still rather slow but the potential was there for both drivers to latch onto the rear of the midfield pack. In qualifying, this slow pace was confirmed as Sammy qualified 19th and Pedro 21st. Uninspiring performances at an uninspiring track, but both drivers were determined to give their all in the race ahead. At the sharp end, the Stewart cars were enjoying some good speed with both in the top six, as Schumacher took yet another pole position.

1. M Schumacher 1:14.680
2. Coulthard 1:14.860
3. Hakkinen 1:15.224
4. Barrichello 1:15.448
5. R Schumacher 1:16.107
6. Herbert 1:16 460

18. Zonta 1:18.908
19. Jones 1:19.223
20. Fisichella 1:19.755
21. De La Rosa 1:20.441

The weathermen got it right for once, and the race was warm, sunny and dry. It was down to a decision between one stopping on hard tyres or two stopping on softs. Being at the back, Arrows split their drivers with Sammy taking the one stop option and Pedro the two stop one. At least this way barring incident one of them might have some sort of success in the race ahead.

Lap 1
A truly calamitous start saw two cars, Frentzen and Hakkinen, remain stationary on the line. Cars swerved all over the place to avoid each other as the yellow flags waved furiously. Both Sammy and Pedro behind him saw a gap on the far right of the circuit and both dived for it, making up many places so that by turn 1 they were 8th and 10th respectively! Another incident at the Adelaide hairpin involving Michael Schumacher allowed Sammy to seize the initiative and nip round more stationary cars to take an incredible fifth by the end of the lap!

Lap 4
After retaking fifth place from Sammy at Estoril on lap 2, Michael is off again at the Nurburgring chicane and drops right down the order, allowing Sammy to regain the fifth place once more.

Lap 5
Irvine in the other Ferrari uses his superior speed to pass Sammy's Arrows on the run down to the Adelaide hairpin. The queue behind the fuel-laden Arrows is continuing to grow, but it also keeps Pedro in the hunt as at this point he remains in 9th place.

Lap 13
A few small mistakes and the slow pace of the heavy Arrows have dropped Sammy down the order to 16th at the rear of the pack, but Pedro continues to hang in there in 10th place having been overtaken by Schumacher, recovering once more.

Lap 20
Most of the cars begin to make their first pitstops around this point, and Sammy is struggling with grip, only able to make up one place on Diniz which moves him to 15th. The strategy isn't working out for the young Brit.

Lap 29
The grip continues to deteriorate for Sammy and another big spin sees him fall to 18th and last, rejoining just behind Zonta. The option was there to pit immediately for new rubber, but the net result would have left the Englishman miles behind the entire field. Instead he tries to extract the maximum from the shot tyres to keep up with the BAR without going off the road again.

Lap 36
By this point Zonta had stretched the gap out somewhat to Sammy as the Arrows finally pulls into the pits for his only schedueled stop. The fuel goes in and the tyres go on and he emerges a very clear last. The object for the rest of the race simply was to get the car to the finish, something that Pedro failed to do as on this lap he had a collision with Diniz in the Sauber which put both out of the race, leaving Sammy in 16th.

Lap 37
On the very next lap, there's plenty of drama at the front as leader Coulthard attempts to lap Gene, but instead hits the Minardi. Gene is out of the race and Coulthard pits his McLaren for a new nose. He still leads having had an advantage of over 40 seconds, but that is now much reduced. The incident also moves Jones up to 15th.

Lap 40
Disaster strikes Sammy as the tyres once again offer very little grip, causing him to run wide at Estoril and clip the barriers witht he rear of the car, damaging the rear wing. The subsequently very slow lap back to the pits leaves him more than a lap behind the entire field and the long stop looses him even more time. It's also discovered that he has some minor suspension damage too but the hardy Englishman refuses to retire the car at the request of his race engineer, stating over the radio, "I've started the race so I'll bloody well finish it."

Lap 46
Coulthard's engine gives up the ghost, handing the lead to a disbelieving Michael Schumacher who in the early part of the race set fastest lap after fastest lap to try and get back to the front. He certainly succeeded with that. On the same lap, Villeneuve comes across Sammy once again to lap the Arrows, and whilst he's let through at the final Lycee corner, the BAR cuts back in front of Sammy before turning in, causing terminal damage to the Canadian's car and forcing Sammy to go for an entire lap minus a front wing. With Villeneuve out, and the stop to repair the damage on lap 47, Sammy is up to 13th, but even further behind everyone else.

Lap 64
Following Trulli's example who has still failed to finish a race all season, retiring on lap 57, Zonta is out with similar problems, allowing Sammy to take 11th, crossing the line at the chequered flag a full six laps down.

Having finished so far down after struggling so much with the car, it was no surprise that Sammy wasn't too happy in the post-race interviews. Having been in such a promising position at the start of the race, he'd slowly slipped back until even the Minardi of Badoer had lapped him multiple times. Amongst some other expletives, he gave this response to his performance:

My race? Hmm yes it certainly was a nightmare. However before we get onto that I have a world exclusive for those watching and listening, I've been reliably informed by Mr Walkinshaw that my car was fitted with soft and not hard tyres for both stints of my race. How bloody incredible is that? The team didn't even want to tell me over the radio for fear of interrupting my concentration, but apparently they only found out after the first stop! I'll go on record now and say that I'm looking for a drive elsewhere next year, if I can't get it in F1 then touring cars or whatever but I simply can't tolerate that kind of incompetance. Mr Walkinshaw has offered me a number of different things to rectify the situation, including some very attractive offers I must admit, and I will consider them, but right now yes it looks like Sammy Jones won't be driving for Arrows next year. Oh the race? Well 6 laps down kind of sums it up I guess. Still a race finish is a race finish and had I had the right tyres on, I might even have managed a top ten place. The sad thing is I enjoy the track, so I just bloody hope we can do better than this at Silverstone.

With Sammy's revalation about the tyre mix-up, the rumour mill kicked up another gear as there would be at least one empty seat at Arrows to fill next year. Many names were touted, including Jean Alesi and a return to racing for Jos Verstappen. At the other end of the grid however it was a triumphant Michael Schuacher winning the race from teammate Eddie Irvine in a Ferrari 1-2. With Wurz and Alesi in the points, it was also a good day for Benetton and Sauber. As Schumi stretched his lead to 20 points in the Drivers' Championship, Ferrari re-took the lead of the Constructors' equivalent.

1. M Schumacher 1:34:39.879
2. Irvine +40.202
3. R Schumacher +1:07.872
4. Wurz +1 lap
5. Herbert +1 lap
6. Alesi +1 lap
7. Fisichella +1 lap
8. Panis +1 lap
9. Zanardi +1 lap
10. Badoer +2 laps
11. Jones +6 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 7 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 52
2. Hakkinen 32
3. Coulthard 24
4. R Schumacher 21
5. Irvine 15
6. Barrichello 7
= Frentzen 7
8. Jones 6
9. Fisichella 5
10. Villeneuve 4
11. Wurz 3
= Herbert 3
13. Zanardi 2
14. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 7 Rounds:
1. Ferrari 67
2. McLaren 56
3. Williams 23
4. Stewart 10
5. Benetton 8
6. Jordan 7
7. Arrows 6
8. BAR 4
9. Sauber 1

[Debaser]

"Sammy are you joining Williams next year to replace Alessandro Zanardi??? Also what do you know fo the rumours that Tora Takagi or Shinji Nakano will take your seat at Arrows next year???"

[JeanDenisAlcatraz]

That new Jaguar project looks interesting - have you had any contacts with them?

[DemocalypseNow]

That new Jaguar project looks interesting - have you had any contacts with them?

I don't know what you've heard but Eddie Irvine and Alex Katajamäki were already signed up for Jaguar next year

[AndreaModa]

In the week between the French and British Grands Prix Arrows organised an informal Q+A session with driver Sammy Jones as speculation mounted about his future with Arrows and F1 in general. The assembled media and their questions were ready to give the Englishman a grilling as the whole team returned to their Leafield base, only some 10 miles from where Sammy was born.

Tom Walkinshaw emerged into the room of the interview, followed by the slightly apprehensive Jones. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up any chance he might have with potentially better teams for next season. Walkinshaw got the session underway with a quick introduction:

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I'm very pleased to see you all here taking an interest in the Repsol Arrows F1 Team, and our driver Sammy Jones. Okay, let's get underway then, over to you Sammy."

SJ: "Thanks Mr Walkinshaw, I'd like to start off by repeating the thanks that so many of you are interested in my future, the prospects this year for the team haven't been great but on occassions so far we've punched above our weight and been rewarded with the results. My statements following the race in France were I admit not the most sensible things to have come out of my mouth, and as of yet my future in the sport is undecided. Okay first question please."

"Sammy are you joining Williams next year to replace Alessandro Zanardi? Also what do you know fo the rumours that Tora Takagi or Shinji Nakano will take your seat at Arrows next year?"

"Wow Williams, that would be an honour to drive for such an established team! So far Alex has seemed to have struggled with the car in comparision to his teammate Ralf, though I expect him to score more points before the season is out. As of yet I've had no contact with Frank Williams, and I've heard the news about Jenson Button's Prost test and I understand Frank may be looking at seriously employing my fellow countryman alongside Ralf Schumacher next year. Of course as we all know these are merely rumours but as of now I don't expect to be driving for such a top team next year. Right now I need to focus on improving my performances and consistency, the step up from F3 to F1 is big and the cars are so different even now I'm still adapting my driving style to get the most out of the Arrows. As for Tora and Shinji Nakano, the most recent news that I'm allowed to reveal is that both myself and Pedro are currently the provisional drivers for Arrows next year, though we're both looking at all our options so changes to the line-up could well be likely. As for the two drivers you mentioned I couldn't possibly say whether either have a chance, though I know the team have been in contact with Jos about a potential return to the team. Next?"

That new Jaguar project looks interesting - have you had any contacts with them?

"I suppose this would be the ideal opportunity to announce such news, the Stewart this year has been a very impressive car, and now I know that Irvine will swap with Barrichello next year to take one of the seats in the team. Having spoken with Johnny Herbert who has been a great friend since I've made the step up, he's unsure of extending his career further after this season, but I know that the Jaguar top brass have offered him an attractive contract for a further season, so that's on the table for him. I know they want an all British line-up to go with the image of the Jaguar brand, but as for my own contact with the team, I'm afraid I cannot comment on the possibility of me driving for them. All I can say is the team are currently happy with having the line-up of Irvine and Herbert potentially for next year, and I'll say no more on the matter."

I don't know what you've heard but Eddie Irvine and Alex Katajamäki were already signed up for Jaguar next year

"Sorry who? You say he's had some drives for Minardi and Tyrrell these past few years? What in some fictional F1 universe created by a Scotsman wanting to see more Scottish drivers in F1? With that surname, he sounds like a prime candidate for the WRC, not an F1 driver! Back to the real world now eh? "

Any further questions for Sammy Jones before preparation begins for Silverstone?

[tommykl]

How do you picture the rest of your season? Are you now looking for podiums?

[TomWazzleshaw]

Sammy, are the rumours true that Chris Dangall may be doing a one-off race later in the season in one of the Arrows cars?

[AndreaModa]

How do you picture the rest of your season? Are you now looking for podiums?

SJ: "Podiums, well I suppose we can't rule them out after the two great performances we've had at Monaco and Canada, it seems the car works well around street circuits but I think if we're brutally honest in normal race conditions, we'll be lucky to score anything more than a handful of points at best. Both myself and Pedro are obviously quite limited with the cars and their fundamental performance, which means to extract the absolute best from them, we're forced to drive on the limit for long periods of the race, otherwise we end up hopelessly off the pace, sometimes even trailing the Minardis which can be hard to accept sometimes when you're faced with another 50 laps of a circuit you're not enjoying, like I was in Spain. That race was hideous. Anyway, to get back to the point, the focus for the rest of the season is to simply get the best out of the car that we can, and pick up any points when given the opportunity. I think the absolute minimum for us in the Constructors' Championship is now 9th place. Both Sauber and to a greater extent BAR have faster cars than us, so I think it's only a matter of time before our current 7th place is challenged. With the dire seasons that both Prost and Minardi are having, I think with nearly half the season gone, we can discount them from being a realistic threat."

Sammy, are the rumours true that Chris Dagnall may be doing a one-off race later in the season in one of the Arrows cars?

SJ: "Chris Dagnall, my goodness me, one of my childhood heroes who I grew up watching. He was the man, when he came into the sport back in '84, who first got me interested in racing, and I suppose you could even say that without that superb, talented man, I wouldn't be driving in the world's premier motorsport category today. Despite having been retired for a couple of years, I know his supreme skills are still very much in abundance so a return to F1 could never be ruled out for a master like him. Some of you here today may remember at the beginning of the season after Brazil my seat was under threat unless I improved my driving. Well obviously I did, but the threat hangs over both of our heads, myself and Pedro who might I add has had some shockingly bad luck recently with the car. Hopefully that improves for him at Silverstone. Anyway if either of us drop our game significantly enough, it is a hard fact that these terms are written into our contracts. I believe the original proposal was to replace the off-form driver with our tester Tora Takagi, but this mention of Chris Dagnall is the first I've heard of other drivers being considered as potential stand ins. Hopefully it never comes to anything such as this, I count Pedro as a fantastic teammate and loyal friend, and even if we're likely to go our seperate ways at the end of the year, I'll endavour to keep in touch, because I don't think you'll find a better guy in the paddock right now than Pedro. If we both continue to give our all it won't come to that, but if it does, then definately yes if I had to choose someone to replace either of us, it would have to be the master Chris Dagnall."

TW: "Thank you ladies and gentlemen, that'll be all for now. Depending on our busy schedule over the rest of the year, another session such as this may be held, and if there are any further questions that haven't been answered, then I politely request you save them for that next session when Sammy will be available. Thank you once again."

The meeting with the world's press certainly opened a few eyes over Sammy Jones' career path at the conclusion of the 1999 season. No-one quite knew where he would be going, would he stick with Arrows and hope for an improved car in 2000, or would it be a new team employing him next year? Jaguar seemed a likely possibility, the buyout of the Stewart team was one of the big talking points in the paddock and its driver line-up had still to be finalised. But other names were being mentioned, Alesi had had enough with Sauber and who exactly would be replacing Zanardi at Williams next year? Then there was the revalation about Chris Dagnall. The popular living legend had been out of the sport for a few years, but would he be tempted back if one of the Arrows drivers stopped pulling their weight? For the frustrated press and eager public, only time would tell whether any of these rumours would have any substance. The Arrows team packed up at Leafield and made the short journey over to Silverstone.

[AndreaModa]

In the run up to the British Grand Prix, a further story emerged that Damon Hill would be retiring at the end of the season and thus vacating a seat at the Jordan team. The most likely scenario was widely expected to see Fisichella move across to join Frentzen there, with the spare Benetton seat linked to many drivers, Jones included. However for Sammy the whirlwind of rumours, press focus and constant questions as his home race approached was all put into the background as he focussed on achieving the best result possible in a car he knew would be struggling around the Silverstone circuit. Whilst most of the British support was behind Coulthard, Hill and the other British drivers, he was still desperate to do well and make a good impression on the folks at home.

Round 8: Great Britain

In typical British fashion, Friday's first practice brought with it persistant rain, and for the teams, it meant plenty of work could be done on a wet setup, which for Sammy looked quite promising, as the rain lessened to a certain extent the power disadvantage the Arrows had on the straights. For the second session the clouds remained, but the rain was gone and the track was dry, allowing proper setup work to begin in earnest. The forecast for the remainder of the weekend was fortunately dry and that's how things remained. Qualifying arrived and whilst the Arrows cars were slower in the dry, solid performances netted Sammy 18th on the grid, with Pedro alongside in 19th, 3 tenths seperating the two drivers. Up in fifth was Trulli, a career best for the Prost driver, who had yet to finish a race.

1. M Schumacher 1:22.089
2. Hakkinen 1:22.752
3. Coulthard 1:23.146
4. Barrichello 1:23.202
5. Trulli 1:23.669
6. R Schumacher 1:24.160

17. Diniz 1:26.102
18. Jones 1:26.693
19. De La Rosa 1:27.038

Raceday continued the warm and sunny trend, unusually for Britain, and after the disaster of the one stop strategy in France and faced with similar conditions at Silverstone, Sammy opted to switch back to the trusty two stop strategy, though what the rest of the field would do was anyone's guess. The tension and nervousness began to build as he got ready to race in his first ever home Grand Prix.

Lap 1
Like in France, there was another messy start as a stationary car or two caused havoc as the field pulled away. Cars fired left and right with six retirements before the first corner, most notably Michael Schumacher, and also Sammy's teammate De La Rosa who's clutch packed up. It was the fifth straight retirement for the Spaniard. Through the mayhem, Sammy, along with Zanardi and Zonta took full advantage and emerged in 5th, 3rd and 6th respectively.

Lap 13
After quickly settling into a comfortable rhythm, Sammy pins the gap to the Williams of Zanardi ahead to a steady 5 seconds once Irvine had passed the Williams. Behind, Wurz and Hill had comfortably cleared Zonta out of the way, and with the Benetton much faster than the Jordan, Wurz in sixth was all over Sammy's gearbox by lap 13.

Lap 20
Managing incredibly well to hold the faster Benetton behind him, the Sammy snail train at this point gains two new members in Hill in 7th and Villeneuve in 8th. Sammy whilst slower on the straights is able to brake slightly later and is particularly quick in the final sector, allowing him to continue to just stay ahead of the faster cars behind.

Lap 21
The very next lap, and it's time for the Arrows' first pitstop, but it's slow and drops Sammy down to 11th, right behind Badoer who was enjoying capitalising on the first lap carnage. With Wurz, Hill and Villeneuve now released, it was clear that without a fair bit of attrition ahead, points chances were looking slim for Sammy.

Lap 30
By the mid-race point, it was clear that the field were split in strategy. Sammy, the McLarens and a handful of other cars were two stopping, some were only one-stopping and those cars who were forced to pit for repairs after the first lap were out of sync and had just one more stop to make. One of those was Ralf Schumacher who was quickly closing in on Sammy's tenth place which the Englishman had inherited as Badoer made his first stop a couple of laps after Sammy.

Lap 32
The pace of the Williams however is too great for Sammy and Ralf muscles through on the inside of Brooklands. The Arrows driver can do nothing as the Williams slowly pulls away. Fortunately, behind Sammy in 12th is Alesi who at this point is over 20 seconds back.

Lap 36
After Herbert made his only stop on lap 35, and Zonta makes his one and only stop at the end of this lap, Sammy finds himself sandwiched between the two cars in 10th, with Herbert only 2 seconds ahead, and Zonta some 6 seconds back. With the Arrows still needing to stop again however, the position is only a temporary one.

Lap 43
Sammy's second and final stop is made at the end of the lap after the Englishman opened the gap to Zonta behind to 11 seconds, but obviously it's not enough as the stop sends him back to 11th with some 7 seconds over Alesi in 12th who had also completed his stops for the race.

Lap 45
Villeneuve has a nasty brake failure at Copse, allowing Sammy to re-enter the top ten once more. Alesi is continuing to close in whilst the gap to Zonta in 9th is some 15 seconds and remaining static.

Lap 52
By this point Alesi is right on the back of the Arrows and looking for a way past, but Sammy holds firm, and matches the pace of Zonta's BAR as the gap still remains at around 15 seconds.

Lap 58
Despite being two laps down, Sammy holds off Alesi to seal only his third top ten finish of the season, and his third race finish in a row. The car's clear lack of speed makes it quite an achievement for the young Brit, who was clearly delighted with a fine drive at his home race:

The top ten finish is a great result for the team today, having been down in 18th I was really able to make the most of all the crazy goings on in front of me at the start, I think I consider this drive as the best so far of my career. Whilst the points in both Monaco and Canada were good, I relied on attrition, and made costly mistakes in both races. Here today I've had to withstand pressure from faster cars through almost the duration of the race and I've barely put a wheel wrong and brought the car home in a creditable top ten place, after running in fifth during the first stint of the race. It's a credit to the team that we're able to extract these sort of performances from the car with such a power deficit, and I'm just gutted for Pedro that he's been forced to retire once more. Either that number 14 car is cursed or he's having some serious bad luck, but I hope he's able to bounce back in Austria, these Chris Dagnall rumours just refuse to go away, and it can't be helping the guy's confidence in the team during this difficult period for him. But yeah anyway, delighted with the result, we need to be looking at this kind of performance now for the rest of the season. We know we can do it, it's just a case of pulling it off on the day.

Meanwhile as Sammy's stock rose further after his gutsy drive to tenth, McLaren comfortably took an easy 1-2, allowing them to regain the lead of the Constructors' Championship, and meaning Hakkinen had cut Michael Schumacher's championship lead in half to 10 points. At his home race, Damon Hill scored his first points of the year with a solid fourth place.

1. Hakkinen 1:25:49.700
2. Coulthard +23.926
3. Irvine +1:09.220
4. Hill +1 lap
5. Zanardi +1 lap
6. Wurz +1 lap
7. Herbert +1 lap
8. R Schumacher +2 laps
9. Zonta +2 laps
10. Jones +2 laps
11. Alesi +2 laps
12. Badoer +3 laps
13. Diniz +3 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 8 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 52
2. Hakkinen 42
3. Coulthard 30
4. R Schumacher 21
5. Irvine 19
6. Barrichello 7
= Frentzen 7
8. Jones 6
9. Fisichella 5
10. Wurz 4
= Zanardi 4
= Villeneuve 4
13. Hill 3
= Herbert 3
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 8 Rounds:
1. McLaren 72
2. Ferrari 71
3. Williams 25
4. Stewart 10
= Jordan 10
6. Benetton 9
7. Arrows 6
8. BAR 4
9. Sauber 1

[Phoenix]

Mr. Jones, how do you see your chances of getting a Benetton seat next season as Fisichella could move to Jordan by the end of the year?

[AndreaModa]

The rumours simply wouldn't go away that Pedro De La Rosa, after his dismal mid-season form would be replaced by Arrows for at least one race to try and keep them in the Constructors' Championship hunt. Sauber were continually on the verge of the point scoring positions, and it would only be a matter of time before they would be up with Arrows on 6 points. For both Sammy and Pedro, once more it was a case of ignoring the hype, and getting on with the job, and that meant trying to snatch any chance of points wherever they could. Prior to the weekend, Spanish media popped this question to Sammy as he made his way into the circuit:

Mr. Jones, how do you see your chances of getting a Benetton seat next season as Fisichella could move to Jordan by the end of the year?

I've heard the news about Hill and Jordan, and I know from being close to him that Giancarlo is after a move to a more competitive team, and Jordan certainly have been more consistant than Benetton this year. For me however, I've had no contact with the Benetton team, and if I'm honest, I see my chances of landing a seat there as pretty slim I'm afraid. Still, I won't rule it out, I'll consider all my options until my mind is made up and that time I can assure you is quite a while away yet!

Round 9: Austria

The media went into a frenzy at Austria as there to fuel the fire that Pedro would be replaced sooner rather than later was none other than Chris Dagnall. He was busy in coversation in the Arrows hospitality area for most of the weekend and refused to comment on anything relating to F1 the entire time. The pressure on Pedro was massive, and whilst the weekend was completely dry, the Arrows drivers had a torrid time in practice, winding up at the back of the field, Sammy 21st and Pedro 22nd fastest. So with it all to do, neither driver went into qualifying on Saturday expecting much, though with cooler temperatures than on Friday, Sammy knew he might be in with a chance of improving, and with some minor setup changes and a super lap, he hauled the Arrows up into an excellent 11th place. Pedro improved too, but the pressure was getting to him, and he only managed 19th.

1. M Schumacher 1:11.229
2. Hakkinen 1:11.536
3. Coulthard 1:11.860
4. Irvine 1:12.551
5. Barrichello 1:13.245
6. Hill 1:13.271

10. Zanardi 1:13.790
11. Jones 1:14.112
12. Trulli 1:14.161

19. De La Rosa 1:16.746

With the hot weather continuing into Sunday, as in Britain, Sammy opted for a two stop strategy. If he could maintain the pace of the cars around him, at the very least a top ten finish looked likely. Pedro meanwhile had a few more eyes on him than usual. Another retirement and he was bound to be out for Germany at least. He was praying for just a solid race finish to get his season back on track.

Lap 1
A decent start and some last minute braking placed Sammy a superb 5th by the end of the first lap. A couple of incidents behind saw the first retirements of the race to, those being Frentzen, Barrichello and Trulli.

Lap 2
Hill squeezes through at turn 6, dropping Sammy back into the final points position of 6th. Herbert and both of the Williams' give chase as Hill slowly gets away. Pedro at this point has made it upto 16th thanks to the incidents on lap 1.

Lap 13
Running at a good pace, Sammy is able to keep Herbert at arms length, and rarely can the Stewart get close enough to mount a serious challenge for sixth. Hill in fifth has streched the gap to around 7 seconds and Pedro continues to climb, up to 14th.

Lap 26
Later than most others, Sammy makes the first of his stops, two laps after Pedro. He pits from fifth as two laps previously Michael Schumacher retired with gearbox problems, his second retirement in as many races. Zanardi who had already passed Herbert pitted on the previous lap, and a quick in lap from Sammy would open the gap to the Williams nicely. However with a slightly sluggish stop, Sammy drops to 10th, though right behind both Williams'.

Lap 27
Emerging from the pits, Sammy is close enough to challenge the Williams duo into turn 2 as lap 27 begins. A superb manouvere saw the Arrows pass both under braking to take 8th with stops from cars ahead still to come. At the end of the lap Wurz makes his stop which puts Sammy 7th, with Diniz ahead in 6th with an 8 second advantage.

Lap 37
After Herbert pitted on the previous lap, Diniz finally makes his stop at the end of lap 37. Both a clearly running a one stop strategy. As a result Herbert jumps Sammy, coming out 7 seconds in front, but once Diniz pits Sammy is back up into 6th place.

Lap 40
Disaster for Pedro once more, an off into the gravel at turn 3 damages his suspension and he retires shortly after. The TV cameras pan to a nonchalent Chris Dagnall watching the screens from the Arrows garage. Would the legend now be returning to replace the poor Spaniard?!

Lap 43
Since exiting the pits, Sammy was able to set some good lap times and slowly pulled away from both Zanardi and Wurz behind him (Ralf Schumacher had retired after a crash) but by this point the pace was gone and after a short tussle with Zanardi for 6th, Sammy ends up spinning at turn 7 attempting to defend 7th from Wurz. He falls to 8th and Fisichella in 9th is quick to close up to the back of the recovering Arrows.

Lap 45
The pressure from the second Benetton causes Sammy to run slightly wide into the final corner, Fisichella seizes his chance and nips up the inside to take 8th. Diniz in 10th is at this point some 10 seconds back.

Lap 48
About to enter the pits for stop number two, Fisichella smashes into the back of the lapped Zonta. The heavy crash puts the Benetton out, though Zonta continues after pitting for repairs. This leaves Sammy back in 8th once again.

Lap 50
Zanardi and Wurz pit on consecutive laps, the Austrian the latter of the two and their stops give Sammy 6th place back temporarily, with the young Brit's stop still to come.

Lap 52
Two laps later and Sammy's final stop is due, this one being much faster than the first, but it still drops him back to 9th. The small mistakes and spin have allowed Diniz to come up and get ahead of the Arrows. The Brazilian is now 8th, 8 seconds away.

Lap 56
Throwing caution to the wind, the Arrows in Sammy's hands begins to be squeezed for all it's got round the A1 Ring in an attempt to catch up with Diniz's Sauber but at the final corner at the end of lap 56 he puts a wheel on the grass and spins 180 degrees and has to spin back round before setting off once more. The mistake costs him 10 seconds and with Diniz's 8th out of the question, all Sammy could do now was defend his 9th place from a quickly closing Alesi. It was a carbon copy of the previous race at Silverstone.

Lap 65
Unlike Silverstone however, in a highly contraversial move, Alesi throws his Sauber down the inside of turn 8, completely on the grass and in the process barging Sammy and his Arrows out to the edge of the track. The Englishman begins to loose traction and spin but holds it brilliantly to stay 10th and only 2 seconds behind the Frenchman.

Lap 69
Two laps down and 10th place once again, it's another solid result from Sammy's side of the garage whilst the other side remains in turmoil. The young Brit has really begun to develop into a solid consistant driver as the year has progressed, putting the bad start to the year behind him. However, demonstrating the high expectations he now has, he was disappointed after getting out of the car after the race:

Yeah it's been another largely solid weekend for us, I was really pleased with my qualifying and I expected a top ten finish would be mine at the end of the day, and it's turned out that way. However after running up in fifth I expected that perhaps something even better might have been on the cards. I'm really gutted about my spin, that cost me the place to Diniz at the very least and as for Alesi's move, well Christ don't get me started on that. I mean, the track is the black bit right? So smeone tell me why he's on the grass in the first place, and then isn't penalised for it either?! Disgrace! The guy should know better than that, I know I held him up towards the end of the British race, but that was all fair and square. I have the utmost respect for the elder, more experienced drivers on this grid, but when they go about performing stunts like that, it's a wonder they've even made it into the sport. But yeah, another top ten is great for the team, we're getting some good consistency going now so hopefully we'll carry that over to Germany. As for Pedro, I'm gutted for the guy, I know about as much as you lot right now, though six straight retirements is beginning to push his luck. Hopefully whoever is in number 14 at Hockenheim is professional, mature, and not faster than me!

With the media storm surrounding Chris Dagnall, a second consecutive McLaren one-two was almost forgotten. McLaren now had a clear advantage in the Constructors' Championship, and Hakkinen's win had blown the title race wide open. Both him and Michael Schumacher were now equal on points. A minor miracle also happened at Austria in that Minardi driver Marc Gene finished his first race of the year!

1. Hakkinen 1:26:54.599
2. Coulthard +28.276
3. Irvine +1 lap
4. Hill +1 lap
5. Herbert +1 lap
6. Zanardi +2 laps
7. Wurz +2 laps
8. Diniz +2 laps
9. Alesi +2 laps
10. Jones +2 laps
11. Badoer +3 laps
12. Zonta +3 laps
13. Gene +4 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 9 Rounds:
1. Hakkinen 52
2. M Schumacher 52
3. Coulthard 36
4. Irvine 23
5. R Schumacher 21
6. Barrichello 7
= Frentzen 7
8. Hill 6
= Jones 6
10. Fisichella 5
= Herbert 5
= Zanardi 5
13. Wurz 4
= Villeneuve 4
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 9 Rounds:
1. McLaren 88
2. Ferrari 75
3. Williams 26
4. Jordan 13
5. Stewart 12
6. Benetton 9
7. Arrows 6
8. BAR 4
9. Sauber 1

[Phoenix]

Another question: is the deal with Chris Dagnall already inked, or is the team still considering other replacements should de la Rosa be replaced after this race?

[AndreaModa]

***BREAKING NEWS***

In an astounding series of events, Tom Walkinshaw, team owner of the Repsol Arrows F1 Team has announced that English Formula 1 legend Chris Dagnall will replace Pedro De La Rosa in the number 14 Arrows car for round 10 of the 1999 F1 season at Hockenheim in Germany. Dagnall burst onto the Formula 1 scene in 1984 driving for the backmarker Osella team before superb performances in the Arrows and Benetton teams led to him landing a drive alongside Brazilian superstar Ayrton Senna at McLaren. There he established his reputation at taking on and beating the very best, and the two drivers had some titanic battles as they dominated the championship. Now Dagnall makes his return to Arrows, and to F1 racing for in his words, a strictly one-off event to help Arrows in their bid to maintain their Constructors' Championship position.

The incredible news was broken in the most unusual of ways, during the flight from Austria to Germany, Spanish reporters put this question to Mr Walkinshaw himself:

Is the deal with Chris Dagnall already inked, or is the team still considering other replacements should de la Rosa be replaced after this race?

Amazingly Walkinshaw gave an honest reply, stating that:

Yes, the deal has been completed for some time actually, the rumours are correct, Chris Dagnall will drive for Arrows alongside current driver Sammy Jones at Germany. Chris will complete some testing and familiarisation with the car back in Britain this week before flying out to Germany on Thursday night. We're really looking forward to having his expertise on board and hopefully we'll learn a lot about the car and what we need to do for the rest of the season to build on the six points won by Sammy so far.

So with the cat finally out of the bag, and after an awful run of six retirements for Spaniard De La Rosa, Chris Dagnall will make his return to Formula 1 this weekend at Germany. Be sure not to miss what is guaranteed to be a truly awesome race!

[Phoenix]

I'm already betting for Dagnall for the IIDOTR!

[AndreaModa]

Not for a long while had the build up to the German Grand Prix been as hyped up as in 1999. The amazing return of Chris Dagnall had captured the attention of the world's media as the camera lenses and microphones were all trained on anyone wearing Arrows team clothing. In a brief but exclusive interview, both Sammy and his new teammate Dagnall gave their views on the recent events:

Chris Dagnall:

I'm delighted to be assisting the Arrows team this weekend in Germany, the team gave me a great opportunity whilst I was still working my way up the ladder in F1 and what's happening this weekend I'd like to think is repaying some of the debt that I owe to the team for their efforts. In a way, it's unlucky that events have conspired to time my return with Hockenheim, its a power circuit and without power, the competitiveness of the car is severely compromised. I can see from previous performances this season from both Sammy and Pedro that the car is lacking in fundamental areas but hopefully with some extra knowledge from myself, we can perhaps lift the team into a good performance this weekend. And yes to confirm, this return is a purely one-off event. Before you all get carried away there'll be no title challenge in 2000 and after this weekend I'm very much looking forward to returning to my family and enjoying life back at home.

Sammy Jones:

This weekend will be a perculiar one for myself, in a way I'm amazed and very happy that I've been given the opportunity to work and drive alongside my childhood hero for a race weekend. However in all of this excitement, I want people to remember the fall guy out of all of this. Pedro has been a fantastic, supportive teammate, we've been there for each other when things haven't gone our way and together we've been battling through the season getting the most that we could out of the cars. Whilst Pedro, like myself, has had his fair share of incidents, the majority of retirements leading up to today have been mechanical failures for him and that I think is the unfair part of this story. Whilst I respect in every way the decision made by the management of Arrows, it has, once and for all, made my mind up about next year. The mistakes like in France can be tolerated, and can be learnt from till those mistakes aren't made again, but having the fear of being replaced throughout the year is not something that I can put up with for another whole season. I want to know when I sign for whoever next year, that I have job security, and that I know my seat isn't under threat. And that is why ladies and gentlemen, I want to take this opportunity to confirm what was mentioned in France, that I will categorically not be driving for the Arrows F1 Team next season.

So with mixed feelings in the Arrows camp, things were getting even more interesting for the media as they spun all sorts of stories between Dagnall and Jones. Who would have the upper hand? It had taken Chris a while to get back up to speed in the familiarisation at Silverstone during the week and the expectation that he would walk over Sammy wasn't such a sure fire prediction now. With yet more questions, it was time to supply some answers.

Round 10: Germany

Despite feeling comfortable with the setup and driving on the limit during Friday, Sammy demonstrated the gulf from the Arrows to the front, though Chris Dagnall was having a better time with things, at the end of second practice he ended the session 8th, with Sammy well down in 19th. Perhaps the legend would walk all over the rookie after all. The arrival of qualifying saw no change for Sammy, even a super-low downforce setup could only get him 21st position, and that was only thanks to Wurz having a catalogue of difficulties leaving him a clear last. However things weren't looking so great on the other side of the garage either. While for most of the season Sammy had the edge on Pedro during qualifying, it was clear Chris Dagnall wasn't going to be given the same treatment and was nearly a second faster than his inexperienced teammate, but still could only manage 17th. It wasn't looking good for the team.

1. M Schumacher 1:41.862
2. Coulthard 1:42.814
3. Hakkinen 1:43.413
4. R Schumacher 1:44.082
5. Herbert 1:44.164
6. Barrichello 1:44.340

17. Dagnall 1:46.372

20. Zonta 1:46.762
21. Jones 1:47.198
22. Wurz 1:51.177

With such a hopeless qualifying, even with Dagnall, the most experienced driver sitting on the grid, the objective for the race was to simply get both cars to the finish. Hockenheim tended to be a car breaker but reliability was improving year on year so even that wasn't a given. Sitting down in 17th, Dagnall was wondering what he was doing sat at the rear end of the grid in an uncompetitive car when he could be enjoying the weekend at home with his family. Two rows back, a disgruntled Sammy was clearly getting fed up of the focus on Dagnall and the meddling of Tom Walkinshaw with the team. It certainly wasn't helping his career being paired up with a driver of Dagnall's calibre, though at least the media attention wasn't on him this time round. One stop strategies were the order of the day up and down the grid, and if either car could make up any places, it would be a bonus.

Lap 1
Sammy reminds everyone why he was employed by Arrows in the first place as a by now trademark quick start and first lap leaves him an amazing 14th by the end of the lap. Dagnall meanwhile is a bit rusty at the start and gets bottled up behind both Minardis down in 20th.

Lap 3
As was to be expected, Sammy's 14th place doesn't last for long, the greater speed of the cars behind him lost the young Englishman a few places before a spin on the exit of the Sachs Kurve drops him to 20th behind Badoer some 5 seconds ahead. He's not last however as Diniz had already been into the pits for a new front wing. Chris meanwhile is making progress, up to 18th position.

Lap 9
An incident with Wurz however forces Dagnall into the pits for repairs and he rejoins in 20th about 13 seconds behind Sammy. As in Spain and France, it's turning into a weekend to forget for Arrows.

Lap 10
After slowly catching the Minardi and tailing it for a couple of laps, Sammy finally passes Badoer at at the Sachs Kurve, the car better in the stadium section compared to the rest of the track. Also on this lap Barrichello and Fisichella come together further up the field which causes the Benetton's retirement with suspension damage and puts the Stewart into the pits, another car needing repairs. The overall result of all this leaves Sammy in 16th and Dagnall now 18th.

Lap 20
After 10 laps of leading Badoer who was hanging onto the back of the Arrows, Barrichello recovers enough to join the group too, with Dagnall having been passed by the Brazilian not far behind and closing in too.

Lap 22
On the exit of the Ost Kurve chicane, Sammy's Arrows gets very out of shape and spins 90 degrees. The incident leaves him in 19th, with Dagnall now right behind Badoer in 18th ten seconds up the road. But as the Arrows recovers, a charging David Coulthard coming round to lap the backmarkers clips the side of the Arrows and slides sideways towards the barriers, loosing his front wing in the process. Fortunately for Sammy the Arrows recieves no damage and he quickly recovers.

Lap 25
Over halfway through the race, and Sammy makes his one and only stop, dropping him to 20th as Diniz recovers back up the order, though the Englishman is only a couple of seconds behind Badoer who has already made his stop and been baulked by being lapped by faster cars, allowing the Arrows to close up. Meanwhile Dagnall is putting in some good lap times, stretching the gap significantly between himself and Badoer and Jones, in an attempt to stay ahead when he stops and try and get onto the back of Zonta and the other cars ahead of him.

Lap 28
With his superior pace since having a clear track, Chris Dagnall finally makes his stop, and emerges with over half a minute in hand over his teammate and Badoer. Had he been further up the grid who knows what the veteran might have achieved.

Lap 30
After some previous looks down the inside, Sammy eventually re-passes Badoer, once again at his favoured spot of the Sachs Kurve. The two had been having an entertaining battle, banging wheels and giving each other explicit hand gestures, clearly neither had forgotten the incident at Imola earlier in the year. Sammy was back to 19th place, and Diniz was in 18th but was pulling out the gap.

Lap 42
The gap to Diniz reached a maximum of about 40 seconds, despite Sammy having found improved pace on his second set of tyres which saw him pull slowly away from Badoer with the gap at one point reaching nearly 8 seconds. However all the time is lost as the leaders come through to lap them, and on lap 42, the penultimate lap, Badoer sneaks through as a mix up between Sammy and Panis' Prost leaves the Arrows on the grass at the entrance to the first apex of the Sud Kurve, allowing the Minardi to retake the position unchallenged. With no time left to challenge Badoer, Sammy finishes last and in 20th place. Dagnall didn't fare much better in 17th, but was clearly much faster than Sammy. The car simply was just miles off the pace, barely able to keep up with the Minardis. In addition to the lack of pace though, the team's situation was made worse by the lowest attrition race of the year so far with only two retirements. Dagnall wasn't impressed and made no bones about his feelings afterwards:

I don't honestly know what possessed me to come back to race today. I can now fully sympathise with both Pedro and Sammy and what the two youngsters have to deal with on a weekly basis. Arrows are a shadow of the team they used to be. Points used to be a regular target and podiums weren't entirely out of the question either. Now these poor guys will be lucky to even score another point this year. I gave my absolute maximum in the car and whilst I feel sorry for exposing the limitations of Sammy's current talent, I was asked to come in by Mr Walkinshaw and simply drive the wheels off it. I did that and finished 17th of 20 finishers and I think that, more than anything when you consider my experience, sums up the capabilities of this A20 car. I'll now go back home and continue to enjoy my retirement. Mr Walkinshaw can offer me all the money in the world to come back again, but I'm afraid the only answer he'll be getting is a straight and honest no.

So with Chris Dagnall back off into retirement, Sammy Jones wasn't in a particularly fine mood as he climbed out of the cockpit, having been obliterated by his vastly more experienced teammate:

What is this all about? My hero comes back to race as my teammate, I should be overjoyed, overwhelmed and all that emotional stuff. Yet I'm not, I'm just deeply frustrated with a car that would be better off in an F3000 race. Chris beat me fair and square and I take my hat off to him for giving his all in such a poor car, I know I wouldn't come out of retirement to do such a thing and the only reason he is doing it is as a repayment for the effort the team put in for him during his early years in the sport. I've got 8 races to go, whether I'll be competing in all of them remains to be seen of course but I maintain that I'll put in the maximum amount of effort that I can. I'm still committed to achieving the best results for this team and I haven't forgotten that it is Arrows who I have to thank for giving me this opportunity to launch my F1 career, but I've been messed around too much for my liking, so I now just want to get the rest of this season over and done with and focus on next year with my new employers. And no as of yet no decision as been made on that front, though naturally an announcement will come in due course.

After another weekend to forget for Arrows where Chris Dagnall failed to live up to the media hype in his uncompetitive car, and Sammy Jones finished dead last, at the front, Micahel Schumacher was denied a home victory in front of his thousands of fans. Mika Hakkinen and his McLaren team outsmarted their Ferrari counterparts at the pitstop phase to get Hakkinen back out in the lead, after which he didn't look back. The win gave the Finn a slender 4 point advantage in the Drivers' Championship and with Coulthard's third too, McLaren were beginning to stretch out the lead in the Constructors' Championship.

1. Hakkinen 1:19:31.922
2. M Schumacher +5.428
3. Coulthard +40.622
4. Frentzen +1:28.487
5. R Schumacher +1:29.303
6. Herbert +1:40.119
7. Villeneuve +1 lap
8. Irvine +1 lap
9. Trulli +1 lap
10. Hill +1 lap
11. Alesi +1 lap
12. Wurz +1 lap
13. Panis +1 lap
14. Zanardi +1 lap
15. Barrichello +1 lap
16. Zonta +1 lap
17. Dagnall +1 lap
18. Diniz +1 lap
19. Badoer +2 laps
20. Jones +2 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 10 Rounds:
1. Hakkinen 62
2. M Schuamcher 58
3. Coulthard 40
4. Irvine 23
= R Schumacher 23
6. Frentzen 10
7. Barrichello 7
8. Hill 6
= Jones 6
= Herbert 6
11. Fisichella 5
= Zanardi 5
13. Wurz 4
= Villeneuve 4
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 10 Rounds:
1. McLaren 102
2. Ferrari 81
3. Williams 28
4. Jordan 16
5. Stewart 13
6. Benetton 9
7. Arrows 6
8. BAR 4
9. Sauber 1

[Phoenix]

Mr. Walkinshaw, what are your plans for the rest of the season? Are you going to further develop the car? Is there money to do it if you wanted? And will de la Rosa return to his seat at the next race?

[shinji]

What's this I hear about a works Volkswagen entry in 2000 spearheaded by Sammy Jones?

[AndreaModa]

Chris Dagnall packed his bags and left Germany to return back to England, rumours that Tom Walkinshaw had in fact offered him a lucrative deal to race in Hungary also clearly had no effect on the veteran Englishman. He had seen enough and the A20 simply wasn't worth his time or reputation. In his absence, it was generally considered that Pedro De La Rosa would return from the sidelines to resume his role in the number 14 car, but on the Wednesday prior to the race in Hungary, Tom Walkinshaw gathered the media to make another announcement:

Recently many people, particularly Spanish reporters eager to hear news on Pedro's situation in the team, have been putting questions to me so I thought I'd take this opportunity to clear things up. For this next race in Hungary, I'm pleased to announce one of our two drivers for next season, Jos Verstappen, will assume the role of driver alongside Sammy Jones. Jos has already put pen to paper on a deal for next year, and we thought it wise to give him a chance to show why we've re-signed the talented Dutchman hence why he'll be driving this weekend. Pedro will return to the cockpit in time for the Belgian race, he would have driven here but has suffered a minor injury to his back whilst training in between races. We're confident his fitness won't be a problem at Spa, and he'll then be driving at all the remaining races alongside Sammy Jones. The A20 however will see little further development now as focus begins to shift to next year with only six races remaining. We're hoping this slightly early shift to the A21 will reward us with some good results next year. I hope that clears up any confusion that the recent events might have generated.

For the second race in a row, Sammy Jones would be driving alongside an unfamiliar teammate, and things were becoming heated in the Arrows camp, the young Englishman was clearly fed up of the driver changes and pressure put on him by the team. On top of the pressure within the team, the press outside were also eager to learn of any developments in his prospects for next year. A young Irish reporter with a Shinji Nakano cap on put this question to Sammy:

What's this I hear about a works Volkswagen entry in 2000 spearheaded by Sammy Jones?

Volkswagen? I'm afraid I've heard nothing from them, I didn't even know they had an F1 entry being lined up, though being part of a works entry would be a very attractive prospect. I must admit the Toyota project that's been rumoured to be happening for 2001 has interested me greatly but obviously that's a year away from now, so in the meantime I'll be looking for a seat somewhere else. Currently the talks with various teams are ongoing, and the only concrete information I can give you is that I won't be driving for Arrows next year.

So whilst Sammy remained tight-lipped on next year, and prepared to drive alongside what many people billed as his replacement for next year, the F1 paddock geared up for a weekend in the hot and sunny conditions of Central Europe.

Round 11: Hungary

Some surprise news to come out of Hungary was that Marc Gene would be being replaced at Minardi for the remainder of the season after Hungary. Gene prior to the Hungary weekend had only completed a full race distance once, at Austria. The Minardi management's patience had finally run out. His replacement hadn't been announced but was widely tipped to be either returnee Shinji Nakano or current Minardi test driver Gaston Mazzacane. Meanwhile back at Arrows, Sammy Jones was acclimatising himself with having Dutchman Verstappen alongside in the garage. Relations weren't great, but it was a one-off event and it was likely that the two drivers wouldn't be sharing a team in the foreseeable future. Both got on with the job in hand and despite the lovely conditions throughout the weekend, the car wasn't looking particularly competitive, but still an improvement on Germany. By the time of qualifying both drivers were on a similar pace, despite Jos having much more experience than rookie Sammy. The results told the same story as Jos qualified 16th fastest, with Sammy just a tenth behind in 17th. Meanwhile Hakkinen suffered his worst qualifying of the year in 5th, with a slightly topsy turvey first six. Schumacher however had taken another pole, his tenth of the season so far.

1. M Schumacher 1:19.817
2. Coulthard 1:20.199
3. Fisichella 1:20.232
4. Panis 1:20.421
5. Hakkinen 1:20.566
6. Diniz 1:20.573

16. Verstappen 1:23.455
17. Jones 1:23.594
18. Hill 1:24.091

In a cruel twist of fate, a short but sharp shower prior to the race start left the track wet but drying in the hot sun. The decision was taken by the whole grid to run on intermediates. Sammy took a gamble and only started with 15 laps of fuel, hoping the track would be sufficiently dry by the time he stopped to take on dry tyres and fuel up for only one more stop thereafter. It was a big risk, but if he could stop once less than the rest of the field a half decent result wouldn't be out of the question.

Lap 1
Both Arrows drivers get good starts in the tricky starting conditions, with Verstappen up to 12th and Sammy in 14th by turn 2. Sammy however spins under braking for turn 5 to avoid Wurz as the pack bunched up, dropping to 15th, with 10 seconds to Verstappen who by this point had already fallen back to 14th. Behind, the rest of the field were stuck behind Gene's heavily damaged Minardi, ensuring Sammy only lost the one place as he rejoined in front of the Minardi.

Lap 6
The ten second gap to Verstappen has at this point been reduced to nothing by Jones who was flying on his light load and intermediates. The Dutchman is told over the radio to let Sammy in the faster Arrows through but clearly ignores the signal, refusing to move aside.

Lap 8
Hungary aptly demonstrated it's difficulty to pass on as Sammy struggled for a way past Jos before both come across the lapped Badoer who had been caught up in some first lap mess. The Minardi holds Verstappen's car up, allowing Sammy to dive through in the run down to the penultimate corner.

Lap 12
Villeneuve in 13th is quickly pulling away and after the quick start, Sammy's tyres are beginning to fade as the track dries out. The Englishman gets the chicane of turns 6 and 7 wrong, leaving the BAR ten seconds away and allowing both the charging Hill and Verstappen to close right back up on his tail. The Jordan then demonstrates it's speed by getting through before the lap is out, leaving Sammy in 15th place.

Lap 15
The strategy for Sammy though works beautifully as he pits on lap 15 with the track sufficiently dry for soft tyres. He takes on around 30 laps worth of fuel too, the stop dropping him down to 16th. Zanardi in 17th is a full 50 seconds back having been caught up in some first lap shenanigans.

Lap 17
The rest of the field quickly copy Sammy's example and dive into the pits for dry tyres, as does Verstappen. Having been right behind Jones two laps previously, he emerges with a three second advantage over his teammate, keeping Sammy in 16th.

Lap 33
On his dry tyres, Sammy struggles severely with grip issues and cannot keep up the pace of his more experienced teammate. Added to a couple of small errors, and the Dutchman had built up a comfortable 25 second advantage by lap 33. Zanardi in 17th was getting no closer though when a puncture pitches Sammy off the road under braking at turn 2, into the barriers and subsequent retirement. It was the Englishman's first DNF after a run of 5 finishes, his best of the season.

Compounding the misery for Arrows however was Verstappen's retirement only a lap later with brake failure. The cars in comparision to Germany were running fairly competitively, yet both fell foul of mechanical incidents beyond their control before the race was finished. It was turning into a bitter mid-season for the team after the highs of Monaco and Canada which seemed a very long time ago now. With the double DNF, Sammy had this to say once he was back in the pits:

It's been yet another frustrating weekend for us as a team, the cars haven't been too bad to be honest, but we still weren't in the position we would have wanted. I was happy that my strategy worked well in the first part, but the mistake at the chicane cost me, and had I not done that I could have emerged well ahead of Verstappen after the stops. Not sure what Mr Walkinshaw thinks of him ignoring team orders, but that's for them to worry about next year, if he does that again to me next season I won't be so kind! After the stop my dry tyres were very poor and I had very little grip, maybe the track's dampness had something to do with it but by the time I retired it was bone dry. Peculiar stuff really. As for the puncture, I felt a vibration going down the main straight, but the team only radioed me that I definately had a puncture in between turns 1 and 2, and obviously at 2 is where I went out. It's a shame to be caught out like that but we'll just have to pick ourselves up for Belgium and get back to work. I'm already looking forward to working with Pedro again, it could well be a strong weekend for us.

Sammy's philosophical nature on things was a change from the criticism he'd given the team at previous race weekends, but it was clear he was now focussed entirely on next season, especially with the news from Walkinshaw that the A20 would be recieving no upgrades for the rest of the year. It was widely speculated that his drive for next year was already a done deal, but with which team it remained to be seen.

Of the cars that didn't retire at Hungary, Michael Schumacher was the winner as he returned to the top step of the podium, leading home both McLarens and a now rejuvenated Frentzen after some poor showings in the last few races, he'd now taken two consecutive fourth places. The podium was beckoning for the German. Villeneuve also collected another point for BAR as they edged ever closer to Arrows in the Constructors' Championship, as Prost celebrated another two car finish, only their second of the season.

1. M Schumacher 1:46:39.142
2. Hakkinen +5.518
3. Coulthard +36.003
4. Frentzen +1 lap
5. Barrichello +1 lap
6. Villeneuve +2 laps
7. Irvine +2 laps
8. R Schumacher +2 laps
9. Fisichella +2 laps
10. Wurz +2 laps
11. Trulli +2 laps
12. Hill +2 laps
13. Panis +2 laps
14. Zanardi +4 laps
15. Badoer +5 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 11 Rounds:
1. Hakkinen 68
= M Schumacher 68
3. Coulthard 44
4. Irvine 23
= R Schumacher 23
6. Frentzen 13
7. Barrichello 9
8. Hill 6
= Jones 6
= Herbert 6
11. Fisichella 5
= Zanardi 5
= Villeneuve 5
14. Wurz 4
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 11 Rounds:
1. McLaren 112
2. Ferrari 91
3. Williams 28
4. Jordan 19
5. Stewart 15
6. Benetton 9
7. Arrows 6
8. BAR 5
9. Sauber 1

[Phoenix]

Not sure what Mr Walkinshaw thinks of him (Jos Verstappen) ignoring team orders, but that's for them to worry about next year, if he does that again to me next season I won't be so kind!

Wasn't Sammy Jones moving away from Arrows?

[AndreaModa]

Not sure what Mr Walkinshaw thinks of him (Jos Verstappen) ignoring team orders, but that's for them to worry about next year, if he does that again to me next season I won't be so kind!

Wasn't Sammy Jones moving away from Arrows?

He is! Sammy won't be giving him any room seeing as they won't be teammates, just rivals on the track.

In the run up to Belgium it was announced that Shinji Nakano, one of the Jordan test drivers, would be given special permission by the team to take the second seat at Minardi, vacated by the ousted Marc Gene who wouldn't be returning. At Arrows, Verstappen was back to the sidelines as Pedro De La Rosa finally made his return in the car. He was feeling refreshed and ready to give his all for the team, who depending on performances, were likely to offer the Spaniard an extension on his contract for next season. On the other side of the garage there was still no news on Sammy Jones' future though. There were still many seats up for grabs, and it would be a couple of weeks before anything was properly settled. Most journalists expected some form of announcement from Sammy at the next race at Monza.

Round 12: Belgium

As usual at Spa, the weather was all over the place with Friday's first session a complete washout. In the wet conditions however, Sammy's Arrows looked very competitive as the Englishman set the 11th fastest time. Over the weekend though the weather gradually improved and in the dry, the Arrows' weren't even on the same page. The lack of development for the car was clearly beginning to hurt them, and during qualifying, attempting to extract the maximum from the car, Sammy had an enormous crash at Eau Rouge as the car let go on him, dug into the gravel and barrel-rolled towards the barriers on the right hand side. Following a huge impact leaving the Arrows upside down against the tyre wall, everyone feared the worst. Would the young Brit be okay? Quickly, with the session red-flagged, the stewards extracted Sammy from the car and whisked him off to the medical centre to be checked over. Soon after, the Arrows driver emerged from the medical centre alone, and seemingly okay. It was a massive relief for everyone and Sammy reassured everyone about the situation:

Yes, I'd like to confirm that I am, by and large, all fine with the exception of a few cuts and bruises. The crash was a result of the car simply loosing grip at the point where it is under maximum load. We're trying to get as much out of the car as we can, and as drivers me and Pedro are having to drive on the limit to help achieve this. This incident is a direct result of this driving on the limit. We're not forced by anyone to do it, it's our own choice, but if we don't we might as well not bother and just qualify 21st and 22nd. I've now written off the car, and with only a preparation laptime set, I'm certainly last on the grid. Hopefully Pedro can pull something out in the rest of the session.

Pedro didn't fair too badly in the end, managing 18th place, but it still wasn't ideal for the team which now had a rather large repair bill on top of another poor qualifying. Jones' early lap was a full two and a half seconds away from Badoer who himself had an awful qualifying. The race was going to be another struggle with an under-performing car.

1. M Schumacher 1:50.231
2. Hakkinen 1:50.697
3. Barrichello 1:51.671
4. Coulthard 1:51.699
5. Irvine 1:52.727
6. R Schumacher 1:52.926

18. De La Rosa 1:56.972

20. Herbert 1:58.028
21. Badoer 2:03.903
22. Jones 2:06.538

Continuing with the improving weather, Sunday was hot and dry which was a disappointment for the Arrows team who were hoping for some wet weather to allow them to close the gap to the front. Both drivers would be giving their all nonetheless and were hoping a repeat of Sammy's crash wouldn't fall their way. With the spare car set up for him, Sammy decided on a two stop strategy, not sure if the rest would be making just one or two stops. If they were one-stopping, as he hoped, the lighter fuel would help compensate for the lack of straight line speed in the Arrows. As it turned out though, he would never find out.

Lap 1
Right at the front, both Coulthard and Barrichello have problems getting away and the resulting traffic jam leaves Sammy 20th and last. Pedro on the other hand takes full advantage of the confusion and rockets up to 11th. Throughout the rest of the lap though, Sammy works his way upto 14th as he passes cars caught behind others that were damaged in the start line mess.

Lap 6
A half spin for Sammy at the Bus Stop Chicane at the end of lap 5 allows Trulli to close right up to the Arrows having been some 4 seconds back after getting caught behind some of the damaged cars touring back to the pits. Pedro at this point is down to 13th as the faster cars make their way through, though he's a full 11 seconds ahead of his teammate. On lap 6, Herbert crashes out which moves both Arrows drivers up a place, to 12th and 13th.

Lap 10
Trulli continues to swarm all over Sammy's Arrows. The young Brit is clearly taking things slightly easier after his crash as Pedro stretches the gap to 15 seconds. On the exit of Stavelot though, Sammy puts a wheel on the grass and gets out of shape. Trulli who was right behind has no-where to go and simply smashes straight into the right rear part of the Arrows. The suspension was smashed to bits and Trulli was out as the impact sent him off into the barriers too. A second straight retirement for Sammy wasn't the news the Englishman wanted to hear, but prior to the incident he'd been running fairly well, albeit slower than before his crash. The top ten would have been out of the question but an otherwise solid result was on the cards. He had this to say after the race:

Another retirement was the last thing I needed today, I wasn't feeling fully comfortable in the car, and at a place like Spa, it severely compromises your performance. Trulli was destined to get past at some point anyway, maybe I should have been more mature and let him past but we'd only been battling for a few laps. This weekend for me hasn't been great, the lack of updates are really hurting us and of the last four races, the only one I can see us being remotely on the pace is probably at the Nurburgring, and even then the top ten will most likely be a big ask. It's been a great result for Pedro though, I'm really pleased to see him back on form, hopefully he'll continue it for the rest of the season. Monza will be another tough test for us though, its more high speed stuff which destroys our car so we'll strip all the downforce we can and see what happens there.

Pedro however enjoyed his return to the cockpit as he soldiered on in the Arrows to take an excellent 12th place, only one lap down on the leaders and eventual winner Micheal Schumacher who re-took the lead of the championship for the first time since Britain. Shinji Nakano had a solid but unspectacular race, bringing the Minardi home in 16th and last, which while uninspiring, was simply what the team was after, someone who could bring the car home on a regular basis which Badoer had been doing all season. Frentzen took yet another 4th place for Jordan who were looking firm bets for 4th place in the Constructors' Championship and Villeneuve collected another point in 6th, putting BAR level on points with Arrows.

1. M Schumacher 1:23:20.970
2. Hakkinen +5.589
3. R Schumacher +1:12.944
4. Frentzen +1:21.185
5. Irvine +1:27.218
6. Villeneuve +1 lap
7. Fisichella +1 lap
8. Wurz +1 lap
9. Hill +1 lap
10. Diniz +1 lap
11. Zanardi +1 lap
12. De La Rosa +1 lap
13. Alesi +2 laps
14. Panis +2 laps
15. Badoer +2 laps
16. Nakano +2 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 12 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 78
2. Hakkinen 74
3. Coulthard 44
4. R Schumacher 27
5. Irvine 25
6. Frentzen 16
7. Barrichello 9
8. Hill 6
= Jones 6
= Herbert 6
= Villeneuve 6
12. Fisichella 5
= Zanardi 5
14. Wurz 4
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 12 Rounds:
1. McLaren 118
2. Ferrari 103
3. Williams 32
4. Jordan 22
5. Stewart 15
6. Benetton 9
7. Arrows 6
= BAR 6
9. Sauber 1

[shinji]

NAKANO SHINJI GOES INNA!

[AndreaModa]

NAKANO SHINJI GOES INNA!

I thought you'd be pleased

From Belgium it was south and a return to Italy for the actual Italian round at Monza. It was here that driver changes for the following season were traditionally announced and 1999 was no exception. The first announcement made was from Jordan. It was already well known that whilst Frentzen was staying on, Damon Hill would be retiring from racing at the end of the year. Damon had had a rather quiet, uninspiring season and he'd had enough. Rumours of his replacement mentioned drivers from up and down the paddock but ultimately Eddie Jordan decided on promising Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, tempting him away from a decidely average Benetton that had only brought him 5 points so far, with plenty of retirements. Both Ferrari and McLaren had already finalised their line ups, Irvine swapping places with Barrichello whilst the Woking team kept Coulthard and Hakkinen on for another season. At Williams, Ralf Schumacher pledged his future to the team whilst the second seat remained a doubt; Zanardi had scored some valuable points which were helping them to third in the Constructors' Championship but up-and-coming Englishman Jenson Button was vying with him for the seat. A head-to-head test in a few weeks would determine the outcome. Benetton had a vancancy now Fisichella had departed alongside the continuing Alex Wurz but nothing had been announced so far, with most people linking another Italian to the team, the obvious candidate being Jarno Trulli from Prost. Alesi was wanting away from Sauber and was pressuring Alain Prost for a place in his team. For Sammy Jones though any hint of staying on at Arrows was firmly extinguished as the team announced a line up of De La Rosa and Verstappen for 2000. Soon after the team made this announcement however, a cluster of journalists and cameras focussed on a bunch of Ford executives in the Monza paddock. They were about to reveal some very important new details for the 2000 season...

As you're all aware, the Ford Motor Company will purchase the Stewart Grand Prix F1 team at the end of this season and rename it the Jaguar Racing team for the 2000 season. Already we've had Eddie Irvine announced as our lead driver for some time but today we can announce the second driver in the team. That driver is current Arrows man Sammy Jones who will partner Eddie in an all British line-up for the team. We're fabulously delighted to secure Sammy's driving talents after he's put in some sterling performances from the admittedly struggling Arrows team this year. Next year we'll look forward to some similar performances and after Stewart's results this year, podium expectations shouldn't be seen as over-ambitious and we're anticipating a very competitive season for both drivers.

With practice not even underway, Sammy was asked about his feelings on his move to the new Jaguar team for 2000:

Naturally, I'm thrilled to be driving for a well-funded and well-supported team in only my second year of F1 racing, after what has been an up and down year for Arrows where for most of the time we've struggled towards the rear of the grid. Next year I'm looking forward to regular points finishes at the very least, and hopefully my first ever podium result too. I can't wait to start next year now, I just want to get the rest of these races that I know we'll struggle at finished and get testing for my new team. Incidentally I've actually been signed to Jaguar for two months now but due to my contract with Arrows I haven't been able to say anything till now. Roll on 2000!

Making way for Sammy was Johnny Herbert who had finally decided to call it a day after a relatively successful career including his two victories for Benetton in 1995. He felt the time had come for him to call time as more and more new drivers came into the sport. In his words, he "wanted to give these new kids the chance they deserved. Sammy is one of these up-and-coming stars and I hope he goes on to achieve big things in the future". With all the comings and goings in the driver market it was easy to forget there was still a race to be run, and for Arrows after another awful race at Spa, things simply had to improve at Italy even if it was just bringing the cars home to the finish.

Round 13: Italy

The speed bowl of Monza required as little downforce as the teams' dared but right from the outset the Arrows drivers were struggling. In the dry conditions they either didn't have the speed in the straights, or were hopeless in the corners, sometimes both. Changeable conditions towards the end of Friday failed to bring any positive news for the team, the cars were just as slow, 21st and 22nd after third practice. Sammy in particular was struggling and after a spin into the barriers at Lesmo 1, returned to the pits angrily shouting "it handles worse than my bloody Mondeo!" in the general direction of Tom Walkinshaw on the pit wall. Qualifying saw much of the same as overnight rain left a quickly drying track, and whilst Pedro improved to take 18th place, Sammy could only manage 21st, barely ahead of Alesi who was plagued with difficulties in the Sauber. In front of the Italian fans, Michael Schumacher had a shocker by his standards, only managing fourth, it being only the second time all season that the German hadn't been in pole position as McLaren locked out the front row.

1. Coulthard 1:24.072
2. Hakkinen 1:24.535
3. Barrichello 1:24.619
4. M Schumacher 1:24.881
5. R Schumacher 1:25.828
6. Herbert 1:26.640

18. De La Rosa 1:28.406

20. Nakano 1:28.606
21. Jones 1:31.515
22. Alesi 1:31.631

On the back row once again, was it to be yet another dismal race for Sammy and Arrows in general? To put a cat amongst the pidgeons, it was raining at the race start but only lightly, intermediates were the obvious tyre of choice throughout the grid with the weathermen confidently stating that the rain would clear up well before the race's conclusion. On a slightly modified setup Sammy decided on a two stop strategy in the damp conditions. He desperately needed it to pay off.

Lap 1
The perennial first lap carnage at the first chicane returned once again, as Irvine did his best to park his damaged Ferrari across the track, resulting in a number of collisions and forcing about half the field either into retirement or into the pits for repairs. Sammy saw the opportunity and seized it with both hands, placing 10th by the end of the lap whilst teammate Pedro got himself mired in the first corner mess and then stuck behind the much slower damaged cars making their way back to the pits. He made up some places but was well down on Sammy who had managed to avoid the worst.

Lap 5
Zanardi in 9th continues to stretch the gap which had stood at some 10 seconds after lap 1. By this point it's 17 as the Arrows makes slow progress through the rain. Frentzen in 11th was the only other driver to make it through like Sammy without getting held up behind smashed up cars and is 25 seconds behind and closing.

Lap 14
At the beginning of the lap Frentzen is nailed onto Sammy's rear wing as he quickly looks for a way past. He soon finds one as the Jordan powers past the weak Arrows in the run down to the Parabolica. In 12th is his teammate Hill, over 35 seconds behind but closing too. The Arrows' pace is causing it to drop like a stone, towards the back of the field once more. Also during this lap De La Rosa retires with suspension failure from a brush with Alesi earlier in the race, spinning off at the first Lesmo.

Lap 17
Sammy makes his first stop at the end of the lap, but not before being nerfed from behind by Hakkinen in the McLaren as the Finn came up to lap Sammy under braking at the Variante Ascari. Both cars suffer considerable damage and the McLaren joins Sammy in the pits. The repairs to the Arrows take a long time and drop Sammy to 15th and last, 40 seconds behind Trulli in 14th.

Lap 20
The damage to the suspension from the clash with Hakkinen worsens and becomes too great for Sammy. He pulls into the pits to retire, disgusted with yet another poor race and very angry with eventual second place man Hakkinen. Pedro's retirement too made it another race to write off, the second half of the season was turning into a nightmare for the Arrows team. So angry was Sammy after he pulled out that he refused bluntly for any interviews, leaving Walkinshaw to pick up the pieces:

It's been another poor, poor race for us, after Pedro's unfortunate retirement Sammy was unfairly smashed from behind by a half-asleep Hakkinen. I've had a word with Ron (Dennis) about it all, he claims it was a racing incident, and I agree, but 100% of the blame must go with his driver - Sammy was offline and out of the way and still the McLaren hit him from behind. It's bitterly disappointing for the lad, he wants to go out on a high with Arrows and at this rate it seems we'll be lucky to even make it the finish of a race by the end of the season. If we had as much money as we do bad luck we'd be right up at the front that's for sure.

Arrows packed up after yet another weekend of misery whilst Michael Schumacher celebrated a masterful display in the wet to overcome both McLarens and extend his lead in the championship. After the incident with Sammy, Hakkinen recovered to second as pole sitter Coulthard slipped to third. Barrichello's fourth kept Stewart in the hunt for 4th place in the Constructors' race, putting the pressure back on Jordan who failed to score.

1. M Schumacher 1:20:12.463
2. Hakkinen +24.904
3. Coulthard +31.677
4. Barrichello +1:05.924
5. R Schumacher +1 lap
6. Wurz +1 lap
7. Frentzen +1 lap
8. Herbert +1 lap
9. Trulli +2 laps
10. Alesi +2 laps
11. Hill +2 laps
12. Zonta +2 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 13 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 88
2. Hakkinen 80
3. Coulthard 48
4. R Schumacher 29
5. Irvine 25
6. Frentzen 16
7. Barrichello 12
8. Hill 6
= Jones 6
= Herbert 6
= Villeneuve 6
12. Fisichella 5
= Wurz 5
= Zanardi 5
15. Alesi 1

World Constructors' Championship After 13 Rounds:
1. McLaren 128
2. Ferrari 113
3. Williams 34
4. Jordan 22
5. Stewart 18
6. Benetton 10
7. Arrows 6
= BAR 6
9. Sauber 1

[Phoenix]

Mr. Jones, how did Ford executives take the fact of you comparing the handling of the Arrows to that of one of their better-known models, especially since you've signed for Jaguar for next year?

[AndreaModa]

With his future finally determined, and after the nightmare incident with Hakkinen in Italy, Sammy Jones arrived back in Germany for the final race of the European season refreshed and ready to get his season back on track. Within the Arrows team however, it was clear that favour and focus had shifted towards Pedro's side of the garage after the Spaniard pledged his loyalty to the team by extending his contract for another year. Of the remaining three races, the team widely expected the Nurburgring to favour the car the most, with it's lack of long straights and smaller penalty for low top speed and so were hoping for some promising results come Sunday afternoon. A rather humourous incident to come out of Monza, when Sammy described the A20 as handling worse than his Mondeo, was picked up on by the press who were eager to see whether it had caused any unwanted negativity between himself and his new employers from Ford:

Mr. Jones, how did Ford executives take the fact of you comparing the handling of the Arrows to that of one of their better-known models, especially since you've signed for Jaguar for next year?

Haha I think they took it as quite a compliment, after all the handling of a Formula 1 car is perhaps the best of any vehicle in the world, and so to have their flagship family car given such high regard was clearly a piece of exposure that the marque wasn't expecting. No they weren't angry, but I cetainly won't be making such comparisions next year. This is the difference between teams at the back of the grid and the front; at the back you can have a bit of a laugh, take things a little less seriously and still get the job done on the Sunday. Once you're up at the front though, it is a much more serious business and I'm fully committed to embracing that lifestyle and making the most of the opportunities provided for me.

Seemingly on a good footing with his future employers, Sammy was clearly in good spirits and looking forward to the challenges of next year. But before then he had three races still to run with Arrows.

Round 14: Europe

As the European season drew to a close, the paddock was rewarded with a lovely warm and dry weekend in which to get to work. Arrows took full advantage of that and instantly looked much more competitive than they had been for a long time. Sammy quickly found a good setup and grew in confidence around the track. Pedro too was having a great deal of success and by qualifying pulled out an exellent lap which left the Spaniard in 13th whilst Sammy had his best qualifying for a while, putting the Arrows 17th. Whether either could translate their quick laps into a race result was another matter entirely. For the second straight race the front row was a McLaren benefit, extra work on the car's one lap pace was clearly working for the team but was it too late to halt Michael Schumacher in the quest for the Drivers' Title? Zanardi too had a superb qualifying in 5th whilst his teammate Ralf was down in 11th.

1. Hakkinen 1:20.108
2. Coulthard 1:20.365
3. M Schumacher 1:20.388
4. Trulli 1:20.690
5. Zanardi 1:20.905
6. Barrichello 1:21.157

13. De La Rosa 1:22.079

16. Zonta 1:22.829
17. Jones 1:23.202
18. Fisichella 1:23.621

Raceday whilst still warm and dry was slightly cooler than Saturday, but strategy was still relatively straightforward. Sammy opted for the tried and trusted two stopper, and was expecting most of the others to do the same.

Lap 1
Both teammate Pedro and Ralf Schumacher fail to get away and after excellent start Sammy secures a superb 9th place before a small spin at the entrance to Bit Kurve drops him to 12th, right behind Panis in the Prost.

Lap 2
Sammy stuffs the Arrows down the inside of the Prost at the Dunlop Kehre hairpin to re-take 11th place. Irvine in 10th is some 10 seconds away at this point.

Lap 5
Three laps later from his overtake, Panis gets better traction out of the hairpin and gets back ahead of Sammy, causing the Arrows to go offline and wide at the Michael Schumacher S. This allows Panis to open the gap as Sammy falls into the clutches of Jordan duo Hill and Frentzen, running together after a shocking qualifying.

Lap 8
A peculiar spin for Jones at the apex of turn 2 leaves him powerless to prevent both Jordans getting past, dropping Sammy to 14th and whilst Fisichella also briefly gets by, Sammy re-takes the position in a gutsy late-braking move into turn 1 at the start of lap 9.

Lap 12
Jordan-bound Fisichella finally finds a way through past the Arrows and the two cars touch as the Italian gets past, loosing Sammy a small amount of time, but still able to comfortably hold onto 15th with Badoer some 9 seconds behind.

Lap 19
Running well though not much faster than the Minardi, with the gap increased to 13 seconds, Sammy is lapped and in the confusion goes wide at Bit Kurve loosing a chunk of time to Badoer who was now only 5 seconds behind.

Lap 23
Sammy pits at the end of the lap, with Badoer still 5 seconds behind. The stop drops the Englishman to 17th, about 8 seconds behind Diniz and with 15 over Zonta behind.

Lap 25
Whilst everyone else pits, retirements for Alesi and Coulthard promote Sammy to 15th. The one stopping Diniz was clearly going to jump the Arrows in the stops whilst Badoer was hammering in some fast laps to try and get ahead of Sammy.

Lap 28
Baoder finally pits, and the Minardi emerges right in front of the Arrows. By the end of the lap both are lapped by Trulli who was running a superb third after Coulthard's retirement. Perhaps Prost's fortunes were finally beginning to change? As the Prost goes past both drivers, Badoer gets poor grip out of the final corner which allows Sammy to draw alongside and outdrag the Minardi into turn 1 as they start lap 29.

Lap 30
Badoer and Herbert come together as the Stewart comes up to lap the Minardi, putting the Italian in the pits for lengthy repairs and allowing Zonta into 15th who was right behind him and Sammy anyway.

Lap 32
It's all over for Sammy as in the process of moving out of Zanardi's way as the Williams comes up to lap him, he runs slightly wide at the entrance to turn four, putting the Arrows into a spin and a one way ticket into the barriers and retirement. A fourth straight DNF has meant a miserable end to the European season for the Englishman but he was in an upbeat mood when interviewed:

It's gutting of course to retire once again, this time it's entirely my own fault, I was too generous to Zanardi, got a wheel on the grass and I've suffered the consequences. Still it's a learning process for me, and I'm getting better when being lapped, and I'm sure the frontrunners will agree with me. The car today was a vast improvement compared to recent races and I was able to run quite competitively at the base of the midfield. It's a shame for Pedro too, his clutch went like at Silverstone so the team will be looking into that and trying to rectify it for Malaysia. Overall I'm happy with the pace of the car this weekend, just a shame we couldn't back it up with a result.

It was another race of high attrition as only nine cars were classified at the end. Poor Trulli retired from his brilliant third place on lap 41 with gearbox failure, but his teammate picked up the pieces and brought home the team's first point of the year. With the reliability issues of the first half of the season largely sorted, Prost looked like a team on the up in the last few races of the year. Michael Schumacher sent the German fans home happy with another win, to extend his lead even further. He was in touching distance of the title now and Hakkinen would need to win both races in Malaysia and Japan and hope for poor results for Michael if he had any chance of retaining his title. Irvine's third allowed Ferrari to close the gap to McLaren to just 7 points in the Constructors' Championship whilst Herbert was denied 4th place as his Stewart ran out of fuel with only 3 laps to go leaving him, 7th just outside the points.

1. M Schumacher 1:31:30.441
2. Hakkinen +18.349
3. Irvine +1 lap
4. Zanardi +2 laps
5. Fisichella +2 laps
6. Panis +2 laps
7. Herbert 64 laps (fuel)
8. Diniz +3 laps
9. Badoer +5 laps

World Drivers' Championship After 14 Rounds:
1. M Schumacher 98
2. Hakkinen 86
3. Coulthard 48
4. Irvine 29
= R Schumacher 29
6. Frentzen 16
7. Barrichello 12
8. Zanardi 8
9. Fisichella 7
10. Hill 6
= Jones 6
= Herbert 6
= Villeneuve 6
14. Wurz 5
15. Alesi 1
= Panis 1

World Constructors' Championship After 14 Rounds:
1. McLaren 134
2. Ferrari 127
3. Williams 37
4. Jordan 22
5. Stewart 18
6. Benetton 12
7. Arrows 6
= BAR 6
9. Sauber 1
= Prost 1