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Olivier Panis' career draws to a close

Tue 28-09 2004

Recently announcing his retirement from Grand Prix racing, Olivier Panis has given us some very special moments in Formula 1, which some of us will never forget.

A young, talented and eager Panis entered Formula 1 in 1994 with Ligier. Team-mate to Eric Bernard, who had already had experienced Formula 1 for three years, Panis consistently out-qualified and out performed Bernard. Adequately coping with the pressures of the Formula 1 circus, Panis showed great composure, scoring a podium in only his ninth Grand Prix start. It was with immense skill and poise that enabled him to score a dramatic podium finish, crossing the line second after an eventful race. With a team lacking performance and money, Panis shone a bright light through what seemed a dark hole at Ligier, with a podium finish being the highlight of the season.

Not only had Panis improved as a race driver, but Ligier had improved as a team in 1995. The two combined to make a formidable combination for the middle ranked teams, with Panis scoring top ten finishes every time he crossed the line. Despite not scoring a podium until the last race at Australia, the season was quite a successful one, with six point scoring finishes. This was a sign of things to come. If you thought Panis’ first podium was eventful, you had no idea how dramatic his first Grand Prix win was going to be, in doing so, he provided Ligier their first win since 1981. The debut win at a prestigious track, Monaco, was a fairytale win as everything just fell his way, it was destined to be.

Panis made the move to Prost in 1996, a team with no prior Formula 1 experience. Despite this, he scored points in the first two races, as well as showing qualifying speed with two top four performances early on in the season. Qualifying third at Argentina in 1997 for Prost is so far his best qualifying result, and not only did Panis give Prost their best ever qualifying position, he also gave them their best race result, being second at Spain in 1997. Panis broke both his legs in Canada that year, many thought that his career would be over. But with grit and determination Panis stepped back into a Formula 1 car at Luxemburg. However, 1998 proved to be a struggle, scoring no points for the whole season, largely due to retirements. The 1999 season didn’t prove to be much better, and this would be his last season at Prost before heading of to BAR to partner former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Results since his last podium at Spain in 1997 have come few and far between. Panis hasn’t enjoyed many point scoring races towards the end of his career, mainly down to the fact that he has always seemed to joined new teams who are finding their feet in Formula 1. Developing a team takes time, and Panis helped then develop, but then he was shipped off to another team. This took its toll on his results having 42 DNF’s in between 1998 and 2003.

His last few races will be memorable ones, and his face will surely be missed on racing day as it has been a figure for so long. A calm collective personality with few feuds in his Formula 1 career will mean he can leave Grand Prix racing with his head held up high.


Aaron Shaw
DailyF1News.com

Categorieën: Jacques Villeneuve

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