San Marino GP Arrows preview

The San Marino Grand Prix marks a welcome return to Europe for Formula One after three long-haul races. It is the first time in the year the teams get to use their own trucks and motorhomes, and is eagerly awaited being such a relatively short distance to travel from their European base camps.

The circuit at Imola is a favourite among many of today's drivers. The track is famous for it's fast-flowing combination of straights and tight chicanes as well the electric atmosphere, delivered by the loyal 'tifosi'. It remains a challenging circuit to drive and one that focuses greatly on the team's aerodynamic package and is particularly hard on brakes.

The OrangeArrows team arrive in San Marino a week after testing at Magny Cours and Lurcy-Levis in France. Carrying out aerodynamic testing as well as some electrical developments, the team hope to be in good stead for the race weekend.

The team had a tough race at Imola last year. Despite yet another great start by Jos Verstappen, he later suffered problems mid race which forced him down the field.
"Imola is one of my favourite tracks on the calendar as it's a real challenge. It's hard on the brakes and has lots of slow speed chicanes so to do a quick lap here you need a car that can jump the kerbs well. Luckily the A22 can do just that so I'm hoping for a good race. Last year's race started well for me but I had a problem that caused me to do an extra pit-stop so I lost a lot of time. It will be nice to be racing in Europe again and hopefully we will get a good result."

Although Enrique Bernoldi has raced at Imola before, it will be his first F1 race there.
"I raced at Imola back in 1996 in Formula Renault and won the race so the track holds fond memories for me. It's a challenging circuit and I've always enjoyed racing at Imola so let's hope I can score my first Formula One finish there."

Team Principal, Tom Walkinshaw, is eager to see the results of recent developments to the A22s.
"Everyone at Arrows and Asiatech has been working hard to improve the performance of the A22. We tested at Magny Cours and Lurcy Levis last week to get some mileage behind a few new ideas so we are hoping all this work will pay off. Ideally we'd like both cars to reach the finish with at least one of them in the points. We'll try our best and hope for a good race."

- Arrows