If anything, in fact, Arrows slipped back a little.

This is no surprise, despite team boss Tom Walkinshaw's big hopes for his team. His claims of his team finishing in the top five this season were dismissed as the usual pre-season hot air - and so they proved.

Arrows had neither the resources nor the works engine deal required to be successful in F1.

Despite bold talk at the beginning of the season, it was clear that the Asiatech engine - basically a re-badged version of last year's Peugeot - had made no great progress since 2000.

And the car, too, seemed not very different from last year's machine, which was slippery but lacked downforce.

Walkinshaw did Arrows' credibility no good whatsoever by dumping Pedro de la Rosa in favour of Brazilian rookie Enrique Bernoldi at the start of this season.

De la Rosa was his most impressive driver last year, and this decision was based purely on commercial necessity.

Nevertheless, Bernoldi - who had a chequered record in the junior categories - has shown much better than expected.

He showed great resolve and coolness, for example, in fending off David Coulthard's McLaren at Monaco, and has matched team-mate Jos Verstappen in qualifying.

Verstappen, too, has been impressive at times. Neither man, though, had a car in which to prove definitively whether he deserves a chance at a better team.

Yet again, better things are claimed for next year, and a deal to use the same Ford Cosworth engines as Jaguar is something of a coup.