Formula One: Only one vacancy for Qantas AGP
30 December 1998
Courtesy of SportsWebAll but one of the Formula One seats for the season-opening Qantas Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next March has been filled already
Perennial backmarker Minardi remains the only team with a vacancy.
Ferrari's test driver, Luca Badoer, is in competition for the spot with Japan's Shinji Nakano, who raced for Minardi this year after a season with the Prost team.
Big personal sponsorship appears to have secured the other Japanese F1 driver, Toranosuke Takagi, a spot with the Arrows team after an impressive rookie season this year with the now-defunct Tyrrell team.
British magazine Autosport has reported that Takagi may have had as much as US$9 million to clinch his deal with Arrows, which has been under severe financial pressure and is reportedly on the verge of being taken over.
New team British American Racing, which has taken over Tyrrell's F1 franchise, has been testing its first car - designed by Australian Malcolm Oastler - in Spain.
After problems on the first two days, Canada's 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve was third quickest in the BAR car on the final day of the test - and within a second of the best lap times of the McLaren, Williams and Jordan teams.
Autosport said Takagi's deal with Arrows, as teammate to highly-rated Finn Mika Salo, may not be formally announced until the team's future is publicly clarified.
German company Zakspeed is favoured as the buyer of Arrows - for close to
US$40 million.
Arrows is run by Scotsman Tom Walkinshaw, whose global motor engineering
and motor racing activities include control of Holden Special Vehicles and
the Holden Racing Team in Australia.
Arrows has been in F1 for 21 years and contested 321 Grands Prix - without winning a race. Autosport has described it as "the most consistently unsuccessful outfit in F1 history".
It was run for many years by former F1 driver Jackie Oliver, but control passed to Walkinshaw in March 1996 and he claimed it would be "capable of winning the world championship within three years".
Japanese motor giant Toyota also has been mooted as a possible buyer of Arrows, while some overseas reports suggest there could be connections between Toyota and Zakspeed.
Another potential investor is reputed to be Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim of Nigeria.
Walkinshaw has recently told Arrows staff the team is not for sale, but earlier said publicly: "There are people who have investors looking to get into F1. We are listening to them.
"We are doing (building) our own car and engine, but at this level you can't do it all on your own."
Arrows has been short of cash following the departure of Brazilian driver Pedro Dinz, reputed to have US$10 million in sponsorship, to the Swiss-based Sauber team for next season.
Zakspeed, which has participated in German touring car racing in recent years, previously competed in F1 between 1985 and 1989, but scored only two world championship points in those five seasons.
It is based near the Nurburgring circuit in Germany's Eifel region and flamboyant Italian F1 identity Flavio Briatore is now a consultant to the company.
Briatore ran the Benetton F1 team during its glory days in the mid-1990s, when it won a constructors' world title and German Michael Schumacher won two world drivers' championships.
1999 Formula One line-ups:
McLaren - Mika Hakkinen (Finland), David Coulthard (Scotland)
Ferrari - Michael Schumacher (Germany), Eddie Irvine (Ireland)
Williams - Alex Zanardi (Italy), Ralf Schumacher (Germany)
Benetton - Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy), Alexander Wurz
(Austria)
Jordan - Damon Hill (England), Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany)
Sauber - Jean Alesi (France), Pedro Diniz (Brazil)
British American Racing - Jacques Villeneuve (Canada), Ricardo
Zonta
(Brazil)
Stewart - Rubens Barrichello (Brazil), Johnny Herbert (England)
Prost - Olivier Panis (France), Jarno Trulli (Italy)
Arrows - Mika Salo (Finland), Toranosuke Takagi (Japan)
Minardi - Estebean Tuero (Argentina), second driver to be named
