Interview: Frentzen Wants Sharper Arrows

Heinz-Harald Frentzen has not scored a point in Formula One for more than a year, nor finished in the top 10 for months.

Neither he nor his Brazilian teammate, Enrique Bernoldi, have gone a full race distance for Arrows this season.

But nobody can accuse Frentzen, who is racing for his third team in less than a year after being fired by Jordan and then finding a brief home at Prost until that French team was declared bankrupt, of negative thinking.

Arrows are suffering but the undertaker's son from Moenchengladbach remains confident that the Cosworth-powered team can be resuscitated and put in a position to score their first point since May last year.

It will not be easy but, after Minardi's Australian Mark Webber finished a miraculous fifth in Australia, there is at least some hope.

"I wouldn't guarantee that I am not going to be on the podium this year," Frentzen said last weekend at Imola, the circuit where he scored his last point with Jordan a year ago.

"You never know what is going to happen in Formula One, it can be very exciting from one day to the other and it is full of surprises. It would be nice (to be on the podium) but I try to be logical," he added.

"If we can make the car much better it would be a possibility but we have a lot of work to do still."

Fired by Fax

Frentzen, a former Mercedes sportscar teammate of Ferrari's four-times World Champion Michael Schumacher, has been on a roller-coaster of late. Fired by fax just before Hockenheim last July, and subsequently embroiled in a legal dispute with Jordan, the 34-year-old German's career seemed to be stalled.

But Frentzen, three times a race winner with Williams and Jordan, returned in blue Prost overalls at the Hungarian Grand Prix in a direct swap with fiery French veteran Jean Alesi. After Prost bit the dust, Frentzen replaced Dutch driver Jos Verstappen - who had already been confirmed at Arrows - in a deal sealed only last February.

Some paddock voices said the move was sure to end in tears, with a sensitive soul joining a team run by the rugged Tom Walkinshaw - a Scot not known for pampering drivers. It is still early days but Frentzen seems to have settled in well, qualifying well ahead of Bernoldi and testing for the first time since February at Silverstone this week.

"The last year was one of the most exciting years I ever had," said Frentzen with a wry smile. "The amount of information that I gained in the past year was more than the last three years put together. For me it was a very exciting time technically.

"My job now is to try to get some extra speed out of the car and I'm trying hard. My motivation is basically to make steps in development. If we find one or two tenths (of a second) a lap that we have improved on the previous day, that is for me the biggest excitement.

"The biggest reward would be to finish the race in the top six and get a point, that would lift up everybody in the team and give them more motivation for the future."

Testing Times

Frentzen must shoulder much of the burden at a team with the worst reliability record of the season and needing at least three points to overhaul Minardi. While others have been testing since January, Arrows have no test driver and until recently had no test car either.

Arrows and Minardi (Asiatech) were the only teams to switch engine suppliers over the winter, a change that prevented them from testing in a hybrid car with a 2001 engine.

Frentzen has not been complaining ("I've had a great time, spent more time with my family, had time to relax") but he is glad to be able to get to grips with some of the evident problems at last.

"Of course it would be nice to have tested between the races but our fourth car was not going to be ready until after Imola and our fourth car is basically our test car," he said.

"We made some analysis during the first Grands Prix and the results were all the same - we are going to change something on the car in order to get a better balance.

"We are struggling at the moment to have the optimum balance on the car, especially in qualifying. The potential is there though...if we work hard we could have even the modifications in Barcelona (the next race).

"If not then I guess it will be for Austria."

Frentzen, 35 next month, does not have too many seasons remaining but he wants to claim some more points and remind people of his talents.

"I feel still that I have a lot to give," he said. "I don't feel like I am at retirement age."