Arrows cars miss first practice

The Arrows cars of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi failed to take part in today’s first practice session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as boss Tom Walkinshaw continued the fight to save his time.

The Scotsman effectively bought himself another 24 hours to find the £3.2m he needs to pay Cosworth for its engines after the cars earlier today passed scrutineering for the race.

Arrows do not have to compete in the practice sessions but must take part in qualifying tomorrow to race on Sunday otherwise risk forfeiting its right to remain in the championship.

Frentzen and Bernoldi were left to kick their heels in the Arrows garage - where the distinctive orange and black cars were up on their stands - while the 20 other drivers took to the damp and slippery track for a rain-lashed first session.

Championship leader Michael Schumacher was caught out by the conditions as he suffered a 180 degree spin on his first lap and had to park up his Ferrari on the sodden grass and missed the entire session.

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello wound-up quickest from the home heroes of Jenson Button in his Renault and Mclaren’s David Coulthard who won the race in 1999 and 2000.

Walkinshaw, meanwhile, met with Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone at the Northamptonshire track this morning having been called to see the race stewards after Arrows last night asked for a postponement on presenting the cars for scrutineering.

‘‘We have got to wait to see what happens on engine supply,’’ said Walkinshaw.

‘‘It’s best to wait at the moment to see what sorts itself out. We have some solutions, it depends on whether everybody agrees to them or not.’’

The two cars and the spare, or T car, passed scrutineering but afterwards the Electronic Control Unit, which runs the engines, were removed by Cosworth personnel, said a source at sister company Jaguar.

The source added this morning that the money Walkinshaw owes Cosworth had still not been paid.

Jaguar Racing boss Niki Lauda, who is also in charge of Cosworth as head of parent company Ford’s Premier Performance Group, had yesterday given Walkinshaw until first practice today to come up with the money.

Walkinshaw had hoped to pay for the engines by selling the rights to receive payments for racing in F1 - which they are entitled to under the Concorde Agreement which governs the sport - to soft drinks giants Red Bull.

But Morgan Grenfell, the bankers which have invested millions of pounds in the company, successfully applied for an injunction stopping the team selling that prime asset.

Morgan Grenfell is believed to oppose the involvement of the new American investor which Walkinshaw was looking to bring in to resolve his team’s financial difficulties.

Barrichello, who won the last race in Germany from Schumacher, finished the first of today’s two sessions just over 1.2 seconds ahead of Button who is racing amid speculation that he is being replaced at Renault.

Coulthard was half-a-second further back followed by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen with Eddie Irvine fifth as the heavily-revised R3B made its first appearance while Toyota’s Allan McNish was 17th in his F1 bow on the track.