He's done it before, and he will do it again. Arrows owner Tom Walkinshaw has once again sacked a driver within weeks of the start of the Formula One season. The victims in the past have included Mika Salo and Pedro de la Rosa. This time it was Jos Verstappen in favour of the somewhat more competitive Heinz-Harald Frentzen - but then Verstappen's end-of-season performances last year were scarcely going to enamour him to his team owner.

No one is expecting much from Arrows this year. They have the same engine as Jaguar - which is scarcely setting the world alight, and the new A23 only made an appearance late in the off-season, with little testing.

But it was soon competitive. It was designed by Sergio Rinland, the man partially responsible for last year's Sauber which finished fourth in the World Championship. Rinland, this year, has a similar kind of engine to bolt into the back of his new car, in that it has already done a season of Grand Prix racing, and should be reliable. Initial testing by Frentzen may have been limited but it has also been quite encouraging, with reasonably quick times.

Last year's car, produced under the direction of Mike Coughlan, was always handicapped due to a misunderstanding with tyre suppliers Bridgestone who reckoned that many races would be two stoppers. Consequently, Arrows produced a car that was mainly designed to do exactly that, with a small fuel tank. When the rules of the game turned out to be otherwise, Arrows were already saddled with a strategy which was wrong - and there was nothing they could do about it.

Verstappen however, excelled in this role, but steady teammate Enrique Bernoldi began to go quicker, and in the final races, it was the Brazilian who eclipsed the Dutchman, which helped to precipitate his eventual departure.

Apart from Verstappen's replacement, there are other newcomers at Arrows. The main one, of course, is Sergio Rinland, who joined them last year, working with technical director Mike Coughlan in design. There's no doubt that Rinland is a talented designer, but he's never stayed at one place very long, and one wonders why. He will certainly help Arrows' chances.

This year the team should be aiming for fourth place, even though they haven't had much testing. But most of the rest of the field are aiming for fourth as well, so it's going to be crowded. But the team has a good engine which should be reliable and if Rinland can maintain his competitive possibilities then there's no reason why the team shouldn't finish well - because the competitition still looks shakey!

Bob Constanduros