Olivier Panis

Olivier Panis won a single race in Formula 1, and it was the most famous one on the calendar. A Frenchman born in 1966, he arrived in 1994 with Ligier and in his first season he was already second at Hockenheim. The following year he repeated that second place in Adelaide.

In 1996 he started fourteenth at Monaco, in the rain and in a midfield car, and went on to win a race in which only three cars were still running at the flag. He was the 85th driver to win a Grand Prix, and it was the last win for Ligier, which became Prost the following year.

1997 looked like the start of something more. In the Prost he was third in Brazil, second in Spain and had fifteen points after six races when he crashed in Canada and broke both legs. He missed seven Grands Prix, came back in Luxembourg finishing sixth and ended the year ninth. The 1998 car did not score a single point.

Then came years of craft: McLaren test driver in 2000, two seasons with BAR and two with Toyota, where he retired in 2004. Five podiums in eleven seasons, and one afternoon at Monaco that nobody who saw it has forgotten.