Testing Times Ahead for Former F1 Drivers

Olivier Panis may not set the pace when he starts Formula One testing with his new BAR team next week, but he has set a trend already.

This time last year, the Frenchman - a winner of the rain-hit Monaco Grand Prix in 1996 - became McLaren's official test driver after parting with the Prost team.

It might have seemed a bad move, particularly since Williams had a vacancy shortly afterwards, but the 34-year-old did well, using his time away from racing to impress others and win a drive as former champion Jacques Villeneuve's teammate at BAR in 2001.

Now, when Formula One's month-long end-of-season testing ban expires on Friday, Panis will be looking forward to a season of Grands Prix while several familiar names will be setting out on the route he took a year ago.

Four drivers left Formula One at the end of last season for test positions with major teams: Austrian Alex Wurz departed from Benetton to replace Panis at McLaren; Brazilian Ricardo Zonta moved to Jordan, after losing his seat to Panis; Spaniard Marc Gene quit the struggling Minardi team for Williams; and Finland's Mika Salo left Sauber to test for Toyota ahead of their debut in 2002.

Add in Ferrari's Italian test driver Luca Badoer, a veteran of 50 Grands Prix for Lola, Minardi and Forti, and five of the 12 teams in or about to join Formula One have testers with World Championship experience.

Fine Judgement

A job that has in the past provided a way into Formula One for aspiring youngsters is also seen now as a way back in for those forced out.

Wurz, Zonta and Gene have all spoken optimistically about their new career direction.

"I still have some plans and some dreams open in Formula One. This is definitely a step in the right direction and I can learn a lot about working with the most successful team," said Wurz.

Zonta has said that his move means "there is a good chance I will be racing for the team in 2002."

The only test driver other than Panis to make the trip in the other direction and win promotion to the grid next season is Jaguar's Brazilian Luciano Burti, who replaces the now-retired Johnny Herbert.

Williams technical director Patrick Head explained recently that the re-emergence of tyre wars, with Michelin returning to the sport to end Bridgestone's monopoly, was one of the reasons for Gene's appointment.

"An increasing amount of fine judgement is needed for Formula One testing, particularly when assessing tyres is involved," he said. "So we have decided that the test-driving role should go to somebody who is quite seasoned in the Formula One business rather than a raw recruit.

"In a situation where a driver needs to pick one tyre from another when the lap times might be virtually the same, a bit of experience is certainly useful."

Testing Role

Young drivers with plenty of promise but little experience have always been in demand and are still finding ways to avoid the testing apprenticeship.

Briton Jenson Button came straight in from Formula Three while Sauber are currently waiting to hear whether Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, a Formula Renault driver with just 23 races under his belt, will be granted a superlicence.

Ayrton Senna also came into Formula One from Formula Three.

But former World Champions Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen and Damon Hill all graduated from the testing role and helped turn the position into an accepted route into Grands Prix, as did McLaren's David Coulthard.

"I hated not racing," says Hakkinen, who competed in Grands Prix for Lotus before being employed as a tester for McLaren in the early 1990s. "But I have to admit that doing so much test work helped me enormously with not only my fitness over race distances, but my understanding of how a top professional team operates."

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was a Williams test driver, but he returns to the team only after time spent in the United States ChampCar series, which he won in 1999.

The team's test driver last season, Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, has now left to try the same route.

Tomas Scheckter, son of former World Champion Jody Scheckter, begins his new job as Jaguar test driver, while Australian Mark Webber takes on the same role at Benetton. "This is my big chance," said Webber last week.

All these drivers, experienced and new, will take to the track next week, as the Formula One winter testing begins at Jerez, Spain, on December 5th. Valencia, Barcelona and Estoril will also be used by teams over the next month.