<< Prev Page 2 of 2 While awaiting the verdict of the judge in this difficult case, Arrows continued to race the FA1 and from the next round, the South African Grand Prix, with a two car effort. Patrese was particularly impressive in the gold Arrows, finishing sixth in the United States West and Monaco Grands Prix early in the year. His best result a startling second at the Swedish Grand Prix. Stommelen on the other hand struggled with the car and could do no better than a pair of ninth place finishes.
After round 11, the German Grand Prix, the verdict was finally in. The judge had ruled in favour of the Shadow team and ordered the cars, minus the body and engines to be 'returned' to Shadow. Few were surprised by this outcome, not in the least Arrows themselves as they actually had a brand new car ready to take the FA1's place. Dubbed the Arrows A1, it did look similar to the FA1 but featured a brand new chassis. It was not quite as quick but Patrese did manage to add a fourth to his tally. For the opening rounds of the 1979 season, the A1 was used again while the very ambitious ground-effect A2 was being readied.
For Shadow, it was a hollow victory as it certainly did not stop the team from the decline set in by the departure of not only the key personnel that formed Arrows but also that of lead driver Alan Jones and Italian backer Franco Ambrosio. The FA1s the team received as part of the court ruling did not offer the answer to Shadow's problems. Remarkably at least one chassis survived and in recent years, it was reunited with the proprietary Arrows bodywork for the first time while being restored to full running order. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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While awaiting the verdict of the judge in this difficult case, Arrows continued to race the FA1 and from the next round, the South African Grand Prix, with a two car effort. Patrese was particularly impressive in the gold Arrows, finishing sixth in the United States West and Monaco Grands Prix early in the year. His best result a startling second at the Swedish Grand Prix. Stommelen on the other hand struggled with the car and could do no better than a pair of ninth place finishes.