The Arrows for the 1980 season was a very conventional car. Designed by Southgate and Wass, it modeled the lines of the Williams FW07. Compact and sufficiently reliable, it broke away from the radical concepts that had characterized the design of the A2. The A3 was equipped with the usual Ford Cosworth V8 and was also used in 1981, where it obtained some important results especially thanks to Riccardo Patrese.