Quote:
Originally posted by Tye
I think some of Panis's success was due to the Bridgestone tyres he and a few others had for that 1997 season, and that isn't meant to take away from his obvious talent behind the wheel. Bridgestone announced to the F1 world that they'd be entering the sport in 1996, however their testing went so well in 1996 that they decided to enter the fray in 1997. I think they made the right choice.
No one rattles Villeneuve!
I completely agree with you about his car input and development skills both as a driver and test driver.
Tye
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I think in the right team Panis could've risen to the Coulthard/Berger/Patrese sort of level - someone who would always be in the running for a win, but probably not a Championship.
I was there at Monaco in '96, he was clearly quicker than his car all through practice and qualifying, and was by far the smoothest guy on the circuit. OK, he won a race of attrition, but in 96/7 he overtook pretty much everyone at least once. His racecraft was, at the time, first rate. Alas, his qualifying was dismal.
1997 - well, there was nothing wrong with car, engine, tyres or driver. The results were solid right up to his crash. Think what Trulli did in Austria - put Panis into
that car....
I think had Olivier not broken his legs, and gone on to a big-three team in '98 or so, he would now be sitting on at least half a dozen GP wins.