Frenchman’s 1996 win was one of F1’s biggest shocks

Olivier who? Olivier Panis, that’s who. You might remember him because of his surname, which sounded enough like “penis” to make childish jokes about it.

Starting from 14th on a damp track, Panis - always one of the better drivers of his era in the wet - passed the likes of Martin Brundle, Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert before changing onto slicks at the right time. He overtook Eddie Irvine at the famous Lowes hairpin and was running in third behind Damon Hill’s Williams and Jean Alesi’s Benetton, before both cars were forced to retire.

Panis’ Ligier was one of only four cars to finish the incident-packed race; David Coulthard (second), Johnny Herbert (third), and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (fourth) were the other three (good pub quiz knowledge, that). It was the first French victory in a French car at Monaco in 66 years. Panis did nothing again that season (fifth at Hungary was his second-best finish in 1996) and he remains one of F1’s most famous one-win wonders.

Watch highlights of the race after the break…

You can actually watch the whole race on YouTube, albeit in several parts: type “f1 monaco 1996″ into the search box and away you go.