Verstappen Downbeat after Losing Arrows Seat

Dutchman Jos Verstappen was downbeat after losing his Arrows seat to German Heinz-Harald Frentzen on Thursday.

Verstappen was confirmed to drive for the Leafield-based squad in 2002 some 6 months ago, but despite that, rumours surrounding the possible signing of 34-year old Frentzen were constant, especially since his Prost team went into liquidation last month.

Verstappen, who is now left in the cold as there are no racing seats available for the upcoming season, said he was very disappointed to hear the news, adding that he had not heard anything from Arrows yet.

"Until this moment I still have not heard anything official from the team, I heard it from [manager] Huub Rothengatter which pointed me to the information," Verstappen said on his website. "Of course I am very disappointed. Further I do not wish to give more comments on this because I first want to get used to this."

Finn Mika Salo in 1999 and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa last year were also dumped by the Arrows team only weeks before the start of the season.