Olivier Panis was the trendsetter who originally took a
sabbatical from GP racing in order to further advance his career,
and after completing
a year of testing
with McLaren his
stock rose
dramatically after
the impressive words
of praise from Ron
Dennis. Prior to Olivier's
departure from the
sport in the 2000 season, he was a mainstay at the
Ligier/Prost outfit
since 1994. The highlight of Olivier's career so far was his memorable win at Monaco in 1996, as well as
three second place finishes, which in recognition of the poor quality of the Liger/Prost
cars is a great
testament to his
unquestionable
driving talent.
Since being back in
F1, Olivier drove
two seasons in a
very poor BAR, yet
managing to score a
few point finishes.
In 2003 Olivier
heads up the Toyota
F1 program's
sophomore year.
|