Repsol goes but Arrows denies chello departure.

Enrique Bernoldi's arrival alongside Jos Verstappen in the 2001 Arrows line-up has signalled the end of the team's partnership with oil company Repsol, which follows the ousted Pedro de la Rosa away from Leafield.

As surprised as the driver himself that de la Rosa was to be the man replaced by Bernoldi, Repsol decided to terminate its agreement to supply Arrows in 2001 after the breakdown of negotiations designed to keep the Spaniard on board. de la Rosa now finds himself out of work, with just Minardi offering vacancies with four weeks to run to start of the new season.

Repsol blames Arrows' insistence on altering the terms of de la Rosa's contract as the root cause of the severance, claiming that the new option was less fair to the driver. Whatever the true cause, however, it is also believed that Bernoldi's ability to provide more backing for the team would have played a part in ousting either de la Rosa or Verstappen this season.

Repsol admitted in a prepared statement that it was looking to continue its support of the Spaniard in 2001, although no alternative outlet for his talents has yet been agreed upon. Rumours have already linked him to either a race seat at Minardi or test role at Prost, with which he was linked at the end of the 2000 campaign, but de la Rosa's camp is keeping quiet on the situation. There is even the suggestion that Minardi has not yet agreed for Gaston Mazzacane to join Prost this season, and that de la Rosa may link up with Jean Alesi after all but, again, no confirmation of the rumours can be found.

Back at Arrows, meanwhile, speculation that the team had lost another of its sponsors has been denied. Dutch communications company chello was yesterday supposed to have released a statement announcing its split with the Leafield outfit, but Arrows' sponsorship department has since rubbished the claim, saying that negotiations are on-going this week.

No reason has been given for the apparent difference of opinion between the two parties, but rumour has it that chello could end up at Prost owing to its links with new team backer PSN.