SEPTEMBER 27, 1999
...so what happens to Panis
THE announcement that Ricardo Zonta is to be retained by British American Racing comes as a blow to Olivier Panis as the Frenchman had been hoping that British American racing might decide to hire him as Jacques Villeneuve's team-mate.
At the Nurburgring Walkinshaw confirmed that the team has now split with Prince Malik and that a new marketing structure will soon be announced. Walkinshaw said that when it became clear that Malik was not going to raise any money for next year the team created a parallel marketing program which is well-advanced on its negotiations to find sponsors. This structure will be revealed shortly.
Panis's other hopes for employment would seem to rest with a Patrick Racing drive in CART - although it is possible that this drive will go to Bryan Herta who is out of work following Bobby Rahal's decision to sign up Sweden's Kenny Brack. We have also heard a suggestion that Panis may do a deal to become McLaren's third driver next year as Nick Heidfeld is moving to Prost and Mario Haberfeld has not shown any remarkable speed in Formula 3000 and may not remain with McLaren next year.