He was soon back in the cockpit, but a crisis of confidence coincided with the start of Prost's disastrous relationship with Peugeot, and Panis' results began to suffer.
He left Prost at the end of 1999 but some of his end of season results indicated that his basic speed remained in tact. He confirmed this with his testing speed for McLaren and he will prove a worthy team-mate to Jacques Villeneuve in 2000.