Japanese GP Arrows race notes

The Japanese Grand Prix got underway at the slightly later than usual time of 2.30 pm with Pedro de la Rosa and Jos Verstappen lining up next to each other on the grid in 13th and 14th positions respectively. Pedro de la Rosa crossed the finish line in 12th position and one lap down, and displayed some fantastic overtaking maneuvres during the race. Jos Verstappen made a superb start and had moved up four places by the end of the first lap, but an electrical problem with his A21 car caused him to unfortunately retire on lap 9, despite the teams efforts to resolve the difficulties when Jos pitted.

Pedro de la Rosa:
"We made a mistake with the set-up for the race, as in the first two stints I had far too much understeer and the car was very hard to drive. In the second pit stop we changed the front nose which so that gave me more front wing and made the car much better. I lost the race really on the first two stints though, but the team did a really good job to improve the car during the race".

Jos Verstappen:
"I think I made a fantastic start, and up until the moment I had a problem the car was running well. I was in front of the Jordans and could hold my pace so it was a shame I had an electrical problem with the car as I think I could have finished in the top eight, but then that doesn't mean anything for me as it's not in the points. I'm disappointed that I didn't finish the race, but I am very happy for Michael (Schumacher) as he has worked hard for this result and I think he really deserves it".

Tom Walkinshaw:
"After a good start it proved to be a difficult race for us which is disappointing. Jos was very strong in the opening laps until he retired and Pedro could only show what he could achieve when we had sorted out his car's handling. We made up some places but ran out of laps at the end".