Mika Salo has now gone on record saying that he is skeptical about his chances of retaining his Arrows Seat. As Atlas F1 was first to reveal last week, It now seems that Japanese driver, Tora Takagi, will be driving the second Arrows car in Melbourne for the first race of 1999. The Japanese press has also confirmed this in the last couple of days.

However, it is not yet clear whether Salo will be out of Arrows for the rest of the season. It seems that Arrows heads are at a dispute over this. While Tom Walkinshaw would like to retain Salo, several shareholders of the team prefer drivers who can fund their drive and draw sponsors. As reported on this week's Atlas F1 Grapevine column, current speculations are that Arrows will have more than two drivers this year.