The F1 champion who became a “perfect team-mate”

When Olivier Panis left his role as test driver for McLaren to get back into a Formula 1 race seat at British American Racing for 2001, he knew what he was letting himself in for. His new team-mate Jacques Villeneuve had made a point of psychologically destroying his previous two stablemates in Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ricardo Zonta, and the 1997 world champion’s position as a BAR shareholder made him the unquestioned number one.

Yet 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Panis…