There was a lot of vagueness when I was talking to Rokit about these phones. The company couldn't provide full specs for things like their LTE bands or chipsets, and I don't like it when I can't find those things out. But it insists we'll learn more when the devices launch in February; they go on sale in March.

This did not seem to concern Malik, who proceeded to hire a pricey PR agency that he set the task of making him "as famous as Eddie Jordan". But while he was undoubtedly an attention seeker, Malik was not planning to simply sit on the pitwall and enjoy the perks of his investment. He claimed that he would raise funds through the creation of the T-Minus brand, which first appeared on the car's sidepods at the San Marino Grand Prix (there had previously been a strange countdown motif in its place). T-Minus planned to make money by launching an energy drink and selling re-branded products such as clothing and motorcycles. The fact that you have never heard of it should be a clue to its eventual success; the veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward later reported that T-Minus 'raised absolutely no money.' (However, it is worth pointing out that the author of this piece still has a can of the energy drink in a box somewhere, unopened, retained for posterity).


It wasn't just the business plan that didn't work: performances on the circuit were woeful, too. A high attrition rate allowed De la Rosa to score a point on his F1 debut – a distinction he shares with rather more illustrious names like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel – but the Spaniard did not repeat the result all year. His teammate, the enigmatic Japanese driver Toranosuke "Tiger" Takagi, fared even worse. Ultimately, they scored only a single point in 1999.


By late in the season, with the reality of the situation dawning on the team, Malik was suddenly nowhere to be found. When he failed to complete the purchase of his shares by a pre-arranged September deadline, Tom Walkinshaw effectively retook control of the them and the T-Minus branding vanished from the car (replaced by Morgan Grenfell, who had backed Malik's purchase and eventually took Arrows to court). The Prince had left the paddock.