Nearly four hundred Grands Prix, several near-wins, and not a single victory.
Seasons
1978–2002
Identities
3
Race wins
0
Titles
0 CWC · 0 WDC
Identity timeline
Each bar is a name this entry raced under. Select one to jump straight to its written history.
Arrows is Formula One's great nearly team. Formed in a breakaway from Shadow, it survived twenty-five seasons through three owners and came within a lap of winning at least twice.
Written history by identity
1978 — 1990
1978–1990: the breakaway and the near-miss
Arrows Grand Prix
Ran second in only its second race; BMW turbo years.
Franco Ambrosio, Alan Rees, Jackie Oliver, Dave Wass and Tony Southgate left Shadow to form Arrows in 1977. Riccardo Patrese led the 1978 South African Grand Prix in only the team's second race before the engine failed — and a High Court ruling found the first Arrows car copied Shadow's design, forcing a rapid replacement.
The 1980s brought BMW turbo power and consistent midfield finishes but never a win. Megatron and Ford engines followed as the money ebbed.
1991 — 1996
1991–1996: Japanese investment
Footwork Arrows
Japanese ownership; the ill-fated Porsche V12.
Japanese logistics group Footwork, led by Wataru Ohashi, took control and commissioned a Porsche V12 for 1991 that was heavy, unreliable and hopeless. Mugen-Honda power from 1992 restored respectability.
By 1996 Footwork had withdrawn, and Tom Walkinshaw bought the team.
1997 — 2002
1997–2002: Hill at the Hungaroring, and the end
Arrows
Walkinshaw era; Hill's near-win in Hungary 1997.
Walkinshaw signed reigning world champion Damon Hill for 1997. At the Hungaroring, Hill led comfortably until a hydraulic failure on the final lap dropped him to second — the closest Arrows ever came to a win.
The team ran its own Arrows V10 engines, took Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim's investment and later Morgan Grenfell's, but debts mounted. Arrows withdrew mid-2002 and was wound up; its assets were bought by Paul Stoddart's Minardi.
Reference material used to compile and verify the Arrows Grand Prix International lineage data on this page. GridXTrax is an independent fan archive; follow the links to check any figure at source.