The car bore the livery of the team's major sponsor, Orange. The car was completely designed around Jos Verstappen, who had a contract to race for the 2002 season. However, due to financial problems the team replaced him with Heinz-Harald Frentzen on a race by race deal because he could bring more sponsorship money. Rinland designed the car around the twin keel concept he had perfected at Sauber. The A23 was introduced late and had very little pre season testing as a result. Most of the testing and set up work was done by Verstappen before he was abruptly replaced by Frentzen.
Driven by Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi, the car scored only two championship points. Both cars were disqualified at the opening race. Bernoldi grabbed headlines for taking the fight to Michael Schumacher in Malaysia, proving the A23's competitiveness. While the car had pace, reliability was again it's achilles heel although Frentzen felt that the car had good potential however. Mounting debts and legal issues forced the team to pull out of Formula One following the 2002 German Grand Prix. Craig Pollock, who had just been ousted from BAR offered to buy the team, but terms could not be reached. Arrows and by extension TWR were declared insolvent shortly afterwards and folded.
The team's last attempted entry at the French Grand Prix saw both drivers deliberately fail to qualify as the team cut back on engine mileage and repair. On-board data acquisition showed the car to be quick in the first two sectors but noticeably slower in the third and final sector.
It is possible that Orange were due to terminate their sponsorship around the same time anyway due to making huge financial losses.
Best Lap Times
Track | | Livery | Driver | Best Lap |
NO LAP TIMES HAVE BEEN SET IN THIS CAR! |