By Huw Alban
April 27 2002

Details have started to emerge about reasons for the possible delay in OrangeArrows announcing their final driver line up for 2002. Amid rumours that Jos Verstappen may be ousted in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, it has emerged that the Arrows are worried about legal distractions for the German. Heinz-Harald was sacked from the Jordan team shortly before the German Grand Prix last year, and since then has undertaken a legal battle to claim lost earnings.
Several sources have indicated that Heinz-Harald has agreed in principal to drive for Arrows, and has settled on a set of contractual terms. It is believed that Frentzen's potential signing has some kind of 'pay off' attached to it to buy the team out of Jos Verstappen's contract, although this has been strongly denied by the Dutchman's management.

According to these sources Arrows want Frentzen to drive for the team, but are worried that the impending court battle with Jordan will be a distraction. There is also concern that Frentzen may be unavailable for long periods of time in order to attend court hearings. It is said that the team would want to be sure that Frentzen would either be free of such legal commitments, or better still have the whole matter sorted before the season starts. That way Frentzen will be completely focused on his role in the team, and make a valid contribution during testing.

OrangeArrows are due to run one of the new Arrows A23-Cosworth chassis with Enrique Bernoldi at the wheel towards the end of this week. So far there has been no mention of similar duties involving Verstappen.