Olivier Panis
Following the traditional karting, Pilote Elf and Formule Renault junior route, the quiet and impeccably mannered Panis emerged as champion in 1989 to earn a move into French F3. His first year, in a Dallara, brought fourth place in the championship while, in the second, despite taking five wins and six poles in a Ralt, he was narrowly beaten to the title by Christophe Bouchut. Olivier then took the well-trodden path to F3000 with the Apomatox team. It was to be a tough year struggling with the Lola chassis, but Panis still impressed enough to land the plum drive with DAMS for 1993. True to its reputation, this amazingly hard-fought series yet again saw the points spread evenly among the leading contenders, but it was Panis who finished at the head of the table in front of fellow Grand Prix aspirants Pedro Lamy, David Coulthard, Gil de Ferran and Olivier Beretta.
Over the next two years, with the backing and confidence of Elf, Panis quietly established himself as a Grand Prix regular, shunting other hopefuls such as Erik Comas, Eric Bernard, Beretta and even younger chargers like Franck Lagorce and Jean-Christophe Boullion into touch.
Given his chance at Ligier, Olivier made a remarkably assured start to his Formula One career, highlighted by his second place in a German GP decimated by accidents. Paired with the experienced Martin Brundle and Aguri Suzuki in 1995, he handled the politics of being a Frenchman in an increasingly cosmopolitan team with aplomb, and his second place in the end-of-season race at Adelaide no doubt helped him survive the winter reshuffles. He was undisputed team leader in 1996, paired with the wealthy but inexperienced Pedro Diniz as the financially pressured outfit faced up to life as one of Grand Prix racing's poorer relations. Despite the Ligier JS43 suffering from traction problems, Panis got the best out of the car wherever he could, and was a shock winner of the rain-hit Monaco Grand Prix. Revelling in the slippery conditions, he drove quite superbly on the day and resisted the challenge of David Coulthard's McLaren for much of the latter part of the race.
With the takeover of Ligier by Alain Prost completed prior to the start of the 1997 season, Panis was the newly renamed Prost team's spearhead, and he kicked off the season in fine style, scoring the revamped organisation's – and Bridgestone's – first-ever points with a fifth place in Australia. Third in Brazil and second in Spain saw the Frenchman driving at the top of his form until disaster struck when he crashed violently in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Both of his legs were badly broken and he spent several months recuperating. Happily, he was fit enough to return before the end of the season, but it was very much a case of 'what might have been'.
The promise of 1997 gave way to gloom in 1998 when the first true Prost challenger was compromised by an overweight gearbox and incurable handling problems, and it was only late in the year that was there a glimmer of hope for the frustrated Panis and team-mate Jarno Trulli. Things did not improve much in 1999 and, when Olivier's relationship with Alain Prost reached rock bottom by mid-year, it became clear that his tenure with the team was finally over. Having put himself under the management of Keke Rosberg, the Frenchman was soon found alternative employment, signing a testing contract for McLaren, although plans for him to race in the revitalised German touring car series with Mercedes in 2000 were quietly dropped.
Sitting out the 2000 campaign proved to be a wise move, as Panis regularly topped the testing times, both in the winter and throughout the regular season – frequently heading team-mates David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen into the bargain. Interest amongst the race ranks was rekindled and Panis was again a name to feature on shopping lists of other F1 teams.
In the end, it was British American Racing that moved first and signed the Frenchman, who replaced the lacklustre Ricardo Zonta alongside Jacques Villeneuve for 2001. Quickly on the pace in testing – where Villeneuve was surprisingly slow – Panis looked an early threat for points, but could do no better than the occasional top six finish, and a share of 14th place in the championship.
Despite vowing not to be fazed by his Canadian team-mate's notorious mind games, Panis could not prevent Villeneuve from taking the team's first podiums, and the former world champion held the upper hand going into a 2002 campaign already marked by the departure of former CEO Craig Pollock. The Frenchman soon bounced back under new boss David Richards, and both he and Villeneuve were remarkably evenly matched throughout the season. BAR had to wait until Silverstone to score its first points, but they came in abundance, with Villeneuve coming home fourth and Panis fifth. However, that, and a sixth place at Monza, was it in terms of points for the Frenchman, with four more retirements bringing his total to twelve in 17 events - ten of which were down to mechanical failures outside his control.
Despite this, Panis was initially keen to stay with BAR in 2003, and Richards hoped to pair the Frenchman with Briton Jenson Button. Villeneuve, however, had a contract and, despite the team's best attempts to off-load the Canadian, it was Panis who eventually left, signing for Toyota. The surroundings may have changed, but Panis' luck didn't and, if you saw a Toyota parked at the side of the track during 2003, then it probably belonged to the Frenchman. A wretched season saw him retire nine times, six of them down to problems with the car. Although he qualified in the top six on four occasions, he never really got the chance to build on those performances on race day, ending the season with six points and 15th in the title race – albeit still ahead of former team-mate Villeneuve.
The following year didn't get much better and, again, Panis ended the season with just six points. His best result was a fifth place finish at the US Grand Prix. The Frenchman also ended the year one race early, so that Toyota could run new signing Jarno Trulli in order to get the Italian up to speed for 2005. Despite having elected to retire, Panis remained at Toyota to act as third driver with Ricardo Zonta, and he signed a two-year deal to work on development for the Cologne-based team before finlly taking his leave at the end of 2006.
