Last Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix marked the end of Olivier Panis' career as an F1 racer, though he has a two-year contract as test driver for Toyota.
As the curtain comes down on a racing career that covered 158 Grands Prix, with Ligier, Prost, BAR and Toyota, and resulted in 76 points and a memorable win at Monaco in 1996, Olivier sat down to answer a few questions.
How did it feel approaching your final Grand Prix?
Olivier: The Japanese Grand Prix was my 158th and final F1 race. It was a strange feeling in one way to finish my racing career, but I am staying with Panasonic Toyota Racing in a different role, so I certainly have not written the last word of the final chapter. Once the decision to stop racing is made, there is no turning back, and making it at the right time, which I feel that I have done, is what so many people find difficult.
How did you prepare for Suzuka?
Olivier: After the Chinese Grand Prix, I went to Singapore for a couple of days training and then headed for Tokyo where we had quite a busy schedule ahead of the grand prix weekend. In fact, it was a very special weekend in many ways because it was not only Toyota's home grand prix, but also the team's 50th race. Additionally, as I took part in my last grand prix, we were lucky to be able to bring my friend Jarno Trulli into the race team earlier than planned. Jarno racing in Japan and Brazil will prove very useful for preparing next season and gives the whole team a positive time advantage.
What did you get up to in Tokyo?
Olivier: As a prelude to the race, we travelled to Tokyo to carry out a short demonstration of the TF104 on the streets outside MegaWeb, which is the biggest Toyota showroom in the world. The rain was pouring down but those fans who braved it really seemed to have a good time. Jarno also joined us for a public Q+A session and some autograph signing before we moved on to Toyota's headquarters, where we did some filming and a press conference for the Japanese media.
Moving to the Grand Prix, how badly did the rain affect the weekend?
Olivier: The heavy rain in Suzuka really affected our Friday practice sessions. Jarno did quite a few laps because he had never driven our TF104B car in the wet before, but I decided that there was little point. I did a couple of installation laps to check-out the calibration of the clutch and launch systems but then I remained in the pits. Even with the extreme wet weather tyres there was quite a big danger of aquaplaning. Suzuka has quite a lot of gradients involved and you get small rivers forming at various parts of the circuit. On top of that we expected different weather for the race and so anything that we learned was going to be of limited value.
What did you think of the decision to abandon Saturday because of the typhoon fears?
Olivier: I think the FIA took the responsible action to abandon Saturday's activities because of the approaching typhoon. The decision really had to be taken on the Friday so that spectators at the track who were due to return on Saturday could be told to stay away. And, at the time, the weather forecast indicated was that Typhoon Ma-on was directly on course for Suzuka. Judging by some of then devastation I saw in the TV pictures from Tokyo, you can't take chances with nature!
So your first timed lap was actually your pre-qualifying run?
Olivier: In the end, my first timed lap of the weekend was when I posted the fifth fastest time in pre-qualifying. I know the car and I know my way around Suzuka, so it wasn't a problem and both Jarno and I were able to qualify in the top 10 for the race.
