Born: 2/9/66 Nationality: French Team: Toyota First GP: Brazil 1994 Wins: 1 2004 position: 14th Previous teams: Ligier, Prost, BAR

Olivier Panis is the old man of the grid and time has finally run out on a career that has lasted 11 years.

The Frenchman will be remembered for a brilliant victory for Ligier in Monaco in 1996 - one of the most unexpected wins in Formula One history.

He deserved his place in the sun for a quite spectacular drive, but it was the exception rather than the rule.

Panis has been a worthwhile competitor and a genuinely likeable man but it is time for others to have a chance.

Time appeared to have run out on him when he lost his drive at Prost as the team spiralled into extinction at the end of 1999, a year in which he was eclipsed by Jarno Trulli.

Panis had been at Prost - or Ligier as it was in a previoius guise - all his F1 career and, with his command of English poor, it was difficult to see him getting another chance.

But he rebuilt his reputation with a year as reserve driver for McLaren, where he often proved as quick in testing as racers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

That led to a race drive at BAR, where he showed well against Jacques Villeneuve.

And that in turn led him in 2003 to Toyota, who hoped to benefit from his experience.

The car has been poor enough for Panis to have made little impression - but so also has he done himself no favours with a series of errors, including too regularly mixing up the car's starting procedure.