JANUARY 15, 2001
De la Rosa wary of backroom changes
SPANIARD Pedro de la Rosa believes Formula One could pay the price for the backroom changes that have hit the sport this winter.
The Arrows driver said that the team's changes that have been made during the off-season - Steve Nielsen has left the Leafield-team and has been replaced by Michael Ainsley-Cowlishaw - could create difficulties for him in 2001.
"It is worrying when you are in a team where important technical staff are leaving," De la Rosa said. "From a driver's point of view it doesn't make you feel very comfortable.
"People don't realize how important it is to keep a working group together. The moment you start making big changes, maybe for the long term they are better, but they always affect you in the short term.
"Even if you bring a better person on board they maybe want to do things differently and at the end of the day you are slower on track initially."
Arrows are set to lose chief designer and aerodynamicist expert Eghbal Hamidy to Jordan, a move that has been rumored for some time.