Panis Rules Out Williams.

Former Prost pilot Olivier Panis has reportedly turned down the chance to replace Alex Zanardi at Williams, despite not having a regular F1 seat for next year.


The Frenchman has only just signed a testing contract with McLaren, and believes that this will ultimately give him a better chance to return to the top flight with a competitive package than joining Williams in 2000. According to Panis' manager, former Williams driver Keke Rosberg, the Grove team has already lined up Champcar winner Juan Montoya for 2001, restricting Panis to just a single season in the car, much of which will be spent developing the new BMW V10.


The approach to Panis was originally reported in the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, and appeared despite denials from both Williams and Zanardi that the Italian would be leaving F1 after a poor 1999 showing.