His time with McLaren re-established the Frenchman's confidence, and he turned expectations on their head at BAR.

Good as Panis is, most thought that psychologically Jacques Villeneuve would be too much for him - the Canadian has a reputation for being a bruising man with whom to share a team.

But far from being overwhelmed by Villeneuve, Panis threw back everything he received, putting up strong competition in both qualifying and race.

It is all an amazing turnaround from the broken, downhearted man who left the struggling Prost team at the end of 1999.

No team owner wanted to know him, and his self-belief had been eroded by a lack of support at Prost.

In a year driving the best car in the business, though, everything has changed.

He worked hard for McLaren, and was made to feel every bit a part of the team. They made it clear that they valued his input, and Panis' belief that he had something to offer was resurrected.

At the same time, he proved to himself that he could do the job behind the wheel by matching the times of race drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard when they were testing together.

To those in the know, this was no surprise - Panis beat Coulthard to the Formula 3000 title as long ago as 1993. He was always quick.

For BAR, it made sense to take him on for 2001. They wanted a good, solid driver to partner Villeneuve, and in Panis they were also buying into someone who had the experience of a year in a McLaren. He could tell them where they were going wrong, not that they have shown much sign of knowing how to put it right.

Panis always had the ability to give Villeneuve something to think about. The doubt was over whether he had the strength to get the best out of himself in a team not known for looking after their second driver.