CONFIRMED: Bernoldi replaces De La Rosa

[Minardi fan]

This is just in from Planet F1:

Bernoldi to partner Verstappen at Arrows in 2001

January 31: Arrows reveal that Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi is to partner Jos Verstappen this season, leaving Pedro de la Rosa hoping for a call from Paul Stoddart.
Orange Arrows have announced that 22 year-old Brazilian, Enrique Bernoldi, will race for the team, as team-mate to Jos Verstappen, in the 2001 Formula One World Championship.

Commenting on the announcement Team Principal Tom Walkinshaw said, "We are pleased with our line-up for 2001. 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 (de la Rosa) for the 100% 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 many times was able to race against the top teams. He brought home five valuable World Championship points for the OrangeArrows team in 2000 and finished 12th in the Drivers' Championship.

Bernoldi began his career at the age of nine, racing karts. After winning two Brazilian Karting 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 Enrique 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 3 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 the British Formula 3 Championship after 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 Orange Arrows 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.

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This clears a whole lot up - Minardi will have De La Rosa and Alonso driving for them in 2001.