Olivier Panis

French racecar driver

Olivier Panis and Monaco 1996

Olivier Panis raced ten seasons in Formula 1, and his one victory came from 14th on the grid in a rain soaked 1996 Monaco Grand Prix.

Olivier Panis was born in Lyon, France, on 2 September 1966, and began in karting. He won a Formula Renault championship in 1989, finished second in French Formula 3 in 1991, and took the International Formula 3000 title in 1993, which earned him a Ligier seat for 1994.

He made his debut at the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix and finished every race but one that season, including a surprise second place at Hockenheim. Another second place came at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix, helping him to eighth in the championship.

His defining day came at Monaco in 1996. Starting 14th on a wet track, he worked his way forward, timed his switch to slick tires well, and passed Eddie Irvine at the Loews hairpin. When the cars of Damon Hill and Jean Alesi failed, he led, and he held off a late challenge from David Coulthard to win a race in which only three cars were running at the finish. It was the Ligier team's first victory in 15 years and its last.

When Alain Prost bought Ligier, Panis stayed on, and he took two podiums early in 1997 before a crash in Canada interrupted his season. Two more years at Prost were followed by two at BAR and two at Toyota before he retired after the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix. His record shows 157 starts, 1 win and 5 podiums. He later won races in sports cars and finished fifth at Le Mans in 2009 and 2011 with Oreca.

0 world titles, 1 wins, 0 pole positions, 157 starts.

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