de la Rosa out as Arrows names Bernoldi.

Pedro de la Rosa has become an unexpected victim of Arrows' prevarication over its 2001 driver line-up, leaving Enrique Bernoldi to partner Jos Verstappen in the team this season.

Arrows officially announced earlier today [Wednesday] that 22 year-old Brazilian Bernoldi would race for the team as partner to Jos Verstappen in the 2001 world championship. This leaves de la Rosa, who was confident of retaining his place in the line-up out in the cold, with only Minardi seeking drivers for the coming year. Bernoldi had been expected to partner teenager Fernando Alonso at the Italian team, but Arrows' decision to sign him up caused a surprise in both camps.

"We are pleased with our line-up for 2001," commented team principal Tom Walkinshaw, "We have a strong, experienced driver in Jos and some young blood with Enrique. It should prove to be an interesting combination. We have been pleased with the feedback and maturity shown by Enrique when testing the car so far and look forward to watching him develop as an F1 driver. We would like to thank Pedro for the 100 per cent commitment he has shown to the team in the last two seasons and wish him well for the future."

After re-joining Arrows in 2000, 28 year-old Verstappen had a good season and, at times, was able to race against the top teams. He brought home five valuable championship points for the team last season and finished twelfth in the drivers' championship.

Bernoldi began his career at the age of nine, racing karts. After winning two Brazilian kart championships, he followed the path of many of his countrymen and travelled to Europe to race cars. It was in Formula Renault in 1996 that he started to attract attention, as he won nine out of eleven races and was crowned European Formula Renault champion, before moving on to compete in the British Formula Three Championship, the proving ground for many stars of Formula One including Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Mika Hakkinen. In 1998, Enrique was runner-up in British F3, despite winning six races, and made the decision to move up to F3000. For the past two seasons, he has combined racing in F3000 with F1 testing duties for Sauber.

In the build-up to the first race in Melbourne, the team will make announcements regarding it's 2001 challenger, the A22, a brand new supporters club, the re-launch of orangearrows.com and the team's sponsorship portfolio for the coming season.