NOVEMBER 8, 2000
A change of management at Orange
ARROWS sponsor Orange is expecting to announce a management reshuffle in around a month and it is expected that Hans Snook, the man who brought the mobile telephone company into Formula 1, will leave the company.
Snook told The Financial Times in London that he wants to spend more time pursuing his personal interests in alternative medicine. Snook has strong beliefs about feng shui and colonic irrigation. Snook said that France Telecom wanted him to stay on at the company but he may decide not to.
"I am not sure how best to continue to help the company going forward," he told the newspaper.
If Snook does leave the company much will depend on the wording of the contract between Arrows and Orange as the French may not want to continue. When the deal was announced it was said to be for three years but it remains to be seen whether or not there are any clauses which would enable France Telecom to get out of the deal without incurring the wrath of the famously-litigious Tom Walkinshaw.
In recent days we have also heard rumors that other members of the Arrows design team have been targeted by rival teams. Egbahl Hamidy has already told Walkinshaw that he does not want to stay with the team until the end of his contract and we hear that there may be a similar situation developing with others in the technical team.
Walkinshaw is yet to announce any drivers or sponsors for next year but Pedro de la Rosa is expected to stay if Repsol continue to fund the team.