Racing for Arrows
Remaining with Arrows for a second year, this was the first time Jos maintained a seat with a team. Arrows suprisingly dropped the emerging Pedro de la Rosa in favour of heavily sponsored rookie, Enrique Bernoldi.
For the 2001 season, Arrows used the Asiatech engine which was a 're-badged' peugeot engine of 2000. The Arrows team were confident this was a good move but the engine lacked greatly in horsepower, proving to be one of the slowest and was unreliable.
Race two ( the Malaysian Grand Prix) of the season revealed Jos's fighting spirit. Qualifying a lowly 18th, he zoomed past the field in torrential rain to run 6th by the end of lap 1. It wan't long before he was running 2nd, but a two-stop strategy saw him finish a frustrating 7th (Click here to listen to British commentary on Jos at the Malaysian Grand Prix). Similar situations occured at following venues; poor qualifying positions but rapid movement through the field. At last, Jos gained his first point at Austria, finishing 6th after a battle amongst the Ferrari's and McLaren's (see photo of celebration).
This was a disapointing season. The Arrows team had taken a step backwards through using the Asiatech engine and contracting the unco-operative Enrique Bernoldi. Verstappen commented, ''he is the worst team mate I have ever had''. In Verstappen's opinion, Bernoldi was not a driver to collaberate well with team mates on racing and technical matters. In addition, Jos was to cause shockwaves in the F1 world at the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2001 - for the wrong reasons. A leading Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams was lapping Verstappen when the two collided, Jos arguing he did not expect Montoya to brake so early (see picture below)
To make matters worse, Jos was dropped by Arrows for season 2002, even though a contract had been signed. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was chosen at the last minute. Jos took Arrows to court over the matter. This event highlighted team principle Tom Walkinshaw's poor handling of the team. Arrows would later suffer a financial crisis.
Points scored: 1
Best qualifying position: 13th, Montreal, Canada
Best race finish: 6th, A1-Ring, Austria.
Championship classification: 18th.
Team position: 10th.
