Will Arrows make the deadline?

The Arrows Formula One team has just six days left to register for next year's championship and find the £200,000 entry fee. The 15th of November is the deadline for entries and recently there have been unsubstantiated reports that Arrows is in negotiations with a German investor. Even if the team does beat the deadline, the FIA will no doubt want some kind of guarantees that there will be no repeats of this season's missing of races.

Although Arrows has paid off some of its debtors the financial problems are ongoing. It would have to prove to the FIA that it is not insolvent and find an engine deal for 2003, which could mean further troubles as the team struggled to pay for this year's Cosworth engines and still owe money for them.

According to Jaguar CEO Niki Lauda, Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw guaranteed to pay what was owed back at the British Grand Prix, then reneged on the agreement: "I accept that businesses can go to shit," Lauda told F1 Racing magazine. "But he (Walkinshaw) gave me a personal guarantee at Silverstone that he would pay and when the first guarantee was due he told me to fuck off. This I cannot accept. He is a rich man, of that there is no doubt, and I'm going to go after him to get the money he owes because then my engine business will break even."

Ex-Arrows drivers Jos Verstappen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen are others waiting in line for compensation from the team. If the reported negotiations with the German investor are successful, Arrows should be in a position to pay off its debts. There has been no official word from the Leafield squad since September but with six days remaining to register for 2003, it should soon be known what the future holds for Arrows.