LONDON -- British American Racing is
strong enough to beat McLaren, last season's McLaren test driver
Olivier Panis said on Friday.
"I think so, to be honest," said the Frenchman, with BAR
this season. "The team improves all the time, at all the tests.
"We need that to close the gap with Ferrari and McLaren."
Panis is a race winner, taking the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix
with Ligier before a less successful time at Prost. He took a
step back last season, gambling on moving to McLaren in a test
role.
He impressed there and joined BAR as a replacement for out
of favor Brazilian Ricardo Zonta.
Panis said the new BAR003 compared favorably with last
season's BAR, which he has also tested and which took the team
to fifth overall in the championship.
Canadian Jacques Villeneuve criticized the new car recently
but he said his views had mellowed since.
"It was too slow at the first test, the car wasn't
completely finished so there were still bits missing and we were
a little bit out to lunch with the mechanical setup," he said.
"We've improved it...and we've understood a few things.
"Olivier drove the car yesterday in Barcelona and it was
already a lot better than it had been in Jerez. So I'm actually
quite confident for the future."
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