14/09/2004

Olivier Panis reflects on Monza

The 38-year-old Frenchman talks about the last race in Monza his decision to retire from racing and the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix which takes place in Shanghai at the end of September.

I am very happy to have signed a new two year contract as third driver with Panasonic Toyota Racing after my decision to retire from grand prix racing. The decision to stop racing was certainly not an easy one to make. I started to think about it during the summer and I talked it through with my wife and my management. We then spoke to the top management of Toyota Tomita-san John Howett and Mike Gascoyne. I think everyone respected what I had decided and John Howett came back to me and said that Toyota wanted me to stay with the team in a different role.

I was happy to take Toyota's option to retain my services in a third driver role. The position is quite well rounded. I will be the team's reserve driver but I will also be heavily involved in the test programme as well as work with the team's young driver academy. I knew that I wanted to stay with Panasonic Toyota Racing because it is still a young team and I think we have all the requirements to be successful in the future. I feel that the team has a good environment and I have a lot of respect for the employees.

Toyota has taken up a long-term challenge and I really wanted to continue as a part of making Toyota successful in the future. Because one day for sure this team is going to be very good. Toyota asked me to stay on for two more years and we talked about doing a very strong programme to help the team into a position to challenge for podiums. I will enjoy doing the same job as I did for McLaren in 2000 but for different reasons. That was to get myself back into a race seat but this is to help the team to progress.

I will have quite a lot of input into the Toyota Drivers Academy (TDA). I think that next year I will go to three or four TDA races to look at the way the teams operate and to check on things such as physical preparation. After that we will think a bit more deeply about how to help them even more. I will be able to give them the benefit of my experience to help them try to understand motorsport.

I love Formula 1 and one guy I respect a lot in this business is Bernie Ecclestone. What he has done in F1 is unbelievable. I would never say never but at the moment I do not have any plans to venture into the business side of racing.

The one thing I am really going to enjoy is spending more time with my family. The F1 schedule we have with 18 grands prix and testing between each one is punishing. I have three children aged ten six and two and I started to think of them as well. Anne my wife has never pushed me to retire not even after the accident I had in Canada in 1997 when I broke both legs. We never even talked about it. But I think now she is happy. Some people are surprised saying I'm still fast and motivated and fit which I know I am but one day you have to decide. On Friday at Monza I saw Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi and they said 'Welcome to the club!'

I had a tough Italian Grand Prix and I experienced numerous problems over the course of the weekend. On Friday I had a strange vibration at the rear of the car as well as some problems with my brake pedal. Unfortunately we could not locate the cause of the problem but I still had to conduct my set-up work and tyre evaluation work anyway. Things were better in Saturday morning's practice session but still not 100% to my liking. We were also forced to change the gearbox just before the pre-qualifying so I was not totally confident with the car in qualifying. With all the problems we had encountered I was reasonably content with 13th on the grid especially given our relatively high fuel load.

After all the rain that we had on Sunday morning the track was still a bit damp but it was drying out quickly so the team made the correct decision to start the race on slick tyres. The dry Michelin tyres work well in these damp-drying conditions and I was optimistic for a strong start. Regrettably things did not turn out as I had planned.

I got a good start in the race and was up into 12th position heading into the first chicane. As usual in Monza the field was very compact with little room for manoeuvre. At the second chicane I was racing closely with Antonio Pizzonia but I got a bit of understeer and we made contact. The impact damaged my nose and I ended up in the gravel trap and unable to get the car going again. It was a shame for everyone in the team but typified the sort of weekend that I had in Monza.

I'm really looking forward to the Chinese Grand Prix. Going to a different country and experiencing different cultures is always exciting. To have a brand new circuit is challenging particularly for someone like me who has been in F1 for 11 years. The design of the circuit looks very good and the city will blow people's minds. I went after Melbourne for two PR days with Toyota. I didn't see the circuit but I stayed in Shanghai. It was unbelievable and I cannot wait to get there next week.

We are testing in Silverstone this week in preparation for China and Japan. Silverstone is a high-speed track like Shanghai and Suzuka so I hope we will be able to carry out some useful work. The Shanghai circuit is a complete unknown especially for the tyres but I think we will be able to draw comparisons with Bahrain. That too was a brand new track so the degradation levels and performance will probably be similar. We will have to work closely with Michelin to select the most competitive compounds. We have a lot to do in Friday's practice sessions but of course all drivers will be learning the track as well.