Minardi to Run Comparative Test with Arrows Cars

The Minardi team will test the five 2002 Formula One cars bought from the failed Arrows team to compare them against their own and see how they compare.

"We'll have a look at the car and see if some of the ideas on them could help us develop our current cars," said the Minardi spokesman. "We are planning a back-to-back test of the A23 versus the (Minardi) PS03, sometime soon and probably in England."

Last year Arrows used the same Ford Cosworth engines as those used by Minardi this season. The Anglo-Italian squad have yet to score a point this year but now have Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone as a minority shareholder.

The Arrows A23, designed by Mike Coughlan who is now at McLaren, scored two points last year.

Minardi would not say how much they paid for the five chassis, bought directly from the receiver rather than at the auction, and a spokesman said they had also bought a quantity of raw materials such as carbon fibre and metal.

He said at least two other Formula One teams had purchased pit and factory equipment, such as milling machines, from the Arrows receivers.

The Minardi purchase is rich in irony, with Minardi owner Paul Stoddart and Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw bitter enemies last season in a battle for television revenues originally destined for the defunct Prost team.