Tom Coronel’s resume speaks for itself. In late 1999, he was on the verge of breaking into Formula 1, having even bent a few gas pedals during his first test. However, his journey ended after just two days of testing in Barcelona. As he drove out of the pits, he thought to himself, “fuck you all.”
By 1999, Coronel had completed thousands of laps. Fresh from his victory as the Formula Nippon champion, he returned to Europe to pursue a Formula 1 career. However, he was slightly disappointed that his first encounter with Formula 1 equipment was in Barcelona. For the then 27-year-old Coronel, it was unfamiliar territory. “The last time I was there,” he recalls, “was for one of my first races in the European Citroën AX Cup in 1991. I won, but still…” He doesn’t need to elaborate further: competing on the Spanish circuit with a Formula 1 car is a whole different ball game.
From the Citroën AX to F1, Tom Coronel initially followed the beaten path, through Formula Ford and German Formula 3, until he moved to Japan in 1996. By winning the Formula 3 and Formula Nippon there, he put himself on the Formula 1 radar. Arrows quickly became the most serious conversation partner for Coronel, his brother and representative Raymond, and his management team, which included Mr. twenty percent Willi Weber – so named for the percentage he earned as manager of the Schumacher brothers – and Franz Tost, now the team boss of AlphaTauri. “We had spoken with team boss Tom Walkinshaw several times. Once at an English airport. Raymond and I flew economy, while Walkinshaw and Weber traveled in private jets.”
The Middle Finger Incident
Five days before the test, Coronel is back in England to have a seat foam fitted. It doesn’t fit perfectly, which is why he bends the pedals during the test. Despite this, Coronel is in good spirits, even on the evening before the test when he dines with journalist Coo Dijkman and photographer Frits van Eldik next to the circuit. The Arrows-F1 test must remain a secret for a long time, so Tom Coronel has summoned them to Spain under false pretenses. He only reveals it during dinner. “Coo asked: ‘When you drive out of the pits, what do you think? Well, ‘fuck you all’, I responded, because you are watching, but I am in that car’. Coo thought I was joking. Well, I wasn’t. And I showed that when I drove out of the pits”, he refers to how he treated the duo at the pit exit to the international gesture of friendship.
At the end of the first test day, Coronel receives a gift himself. “I was initially going to drive for one day, but was allowed to do another.” The team is satisfied, Coronel is on par with Arrows’ 1999 pilot Pedro de la Rosa and the Aussie Mark Webber, who tested a week earlier. They are three of the four contenders for the two Arrows seats for 2000. The fourth? “Jos Verstappen. Walkinshaw was playing a game to get the most out of all of us.” Because Walkinshaw wants to see money for his seats. “He did that cleverly. I think in retrospect that he let me drive the second day partly to put pressure on the Verstappen camp.”
Tom Coronel’s Unfulfilled Formula 1 Dream
Not long after, the contracts were drawn up. Coronel still has the thirty-page document tucked away in a drawer. Everything is detailed, from the amount of sponsorship money he needs to bring, his salary ($250,000 for the first year and a million for a second season), his media obligations, to when he needs to show up in team clothing. The agreement is signed by Arrows’ secretary, waiting for the money and the other signatures. Walkinshaw is clear about this. “He said from the start: I have to run a team, so the first one who comes up with the money gets the seat.”
‘Money’ is an understatement. It’s about 6 million guilders, converted to 2022 and adjusted for inflation, 4.2 million euros. The first one to have that is De la Rosa. So the battle suddenly becomes for only one seat, and becomes even more of a race against time. Coronel has three million in sponsorship money and comes up with an ambitious share plan for fans and investors. “I would get a base salary, while shareholders would get a fixed return over five years.”
Things are going ‘very well’, but it’s not enough. “We had until February 13th, but as Walkinshaw had said: whoever comes up with the money first, gets the seat.” Thus, Coronel is suddenly called on February 1st. “A very short call. Walkinshaw called himself: We’re going for Jos. Good luck with your career. Beep-beep-beep. I thought: this is Bananasplit. It felt harsh, brutal. That’s motorsport, but at that moment I didn’t like motorsport very much.”
Tom Coronel’s Return to Racing
It takes a while for him to find the joy in the game again, but blood is thicker than water; Coronel has a motorsport heart. He slowly gets back to work, first in the GTs and endurance racing, then full throttle. In recent years, he has been racing in anything that moves, with a focus on touring cars. Tom Coronel hasn’t thought about that F1 test, even when he has to drive in Barcelona again, ‘for ten years’. “Unless I see a photo pass by or accidentally remember that it was so many years ago.”
What he is still proud of is that he forced that test himself. “We didn’t pay a guilder for that test, huh. That rumor went around then, but that’s not true. I was really asked.” In addition, he is glad that he, despite a kind of mourning period, did not fall into the black hole. “I can imagine that many drivers get a mental blow from something like this, never want to race again. But I still race and am very satisfied. While if I had made it to Formula 1, I might have been done with motorsport by now.”
