Carpooling Panis: “It was a war from the first to the last round”

Olivier Panis does not have his tongue in his pocket. The founder and director of the Panis Barthez Compétition team took us for a ride in a BMW Tourism. 

But the winner of the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix also gave his opinion on the current state of the Formula 1. " I watch (F1) because it is part of my life, but I don't really relate to it. Because she has changed a lot. I love qualifying because I think they have crazy cars, explains the Frenchman.

On the other hand, races... You can't ride eight seconds from pole and have your race managed by the engineers, by the temperature of the tires, the brakes, the engine! That must be boring... That doesn't mean anything to me. I'm sure 90% of drivers think the same thing but when you have the chance to progress in F1 and you earn a very good living, you go with it. »

The former pilot remembers a time when mechanical management was only a distant idea. " From 2002 to 2004, it was just extraordinary. The performance of the cars was crazy. You left on new tires with 40 kilos of gasoline, you came back to put on a set of new tires with another 40 kilos of gasoline... It was a war from the first to the last lap. It was magical ! »

Olivier Panis also knew the environment McLaren in 2000, in a shadow role. “We were testing all the time. In 2000, when I was a McLaren test driver, it was just magical. I knew what the best car at the moment was, the best team. I had a great relationship with Mika and David (Häkkinen and Coulthard. Editor’s note). That year, I did 72 days of testing, 27 km. I was sharp. A real machine. »

Find the entire Carpooling with Olivier Panis in issue n°2222 of AUTOhebdo, on sale in digital versione and on newsstands.