To complete our overview of mid-season reports, we called on Guy Coulon who, now that he has decided to abandon his role as team leader at Tech3, but remains present at the Grands Prix, is undoubtedly one of the best placed to have both a global and detailed vision of the world of MotoGP...
The man is passionate about technology, and this field has constituted the first part of this interview.
But his look at the first part of the 2021 season is just as interesting, with some things set right!
We asked him what struck him most during the first nine Grands Prix…
Guy Coulon : " The return of Márquez, that’s clear! He hasn't quite returned to his physical level yet but it's gradually coming back. In Germany it is very strong and the Honda is perhaps a little less handicapped there, I don't know. In any case, it goes quickly there! »
" For the rest, we have roughly the same thing as last year's season, which began roughly at this time of year, that is to say Fabio who is riding hard but who looks to be much more consistent this year, since when he is in difficulty he makes the podium or top 5 instead of 16th. That's a clear and clear sign, because if you want to be champion, when you really have problems, you have to be top 5, and when you can win, you have to win. That’s what he does and that’s good! »
« Johann is for me clearly the Ducati leader, and that's interesting too, at least for us French (laughs). He made a mistake with a fall, but that happens, otherwise he doesn't show any weak points and he's still there, unlike the other Ducatis. Anyway, he's the first Ducati in the standings and for me he is clearly the top Ducati rider. It also confirms what we felt at the end of last season. »
« Everything is in continuity and Joan Mir is also doing almost the same thing as last year where he based his title on regularity, even if he won little. He has never been weak and this is what he is showing again: Little by little, he is doing the same thing as last year, and is now starting to make podiums. It is therefore likely to be more and more solid until the end of the season. The qualifications are average but I don't know if it's the Suzukis or the state of mind of the riders or the way of working. It's difficult to analyze when you're not in it. These are things that we experienced, for example with Miguel especially in the first year, and again quite a bit in the second year but less and less. Then he worked, with us and now in the official team, to be better in testing, which was clearly his weak point even when he was in Moto2. In Moto2, he often started between 15 and 20 to finish on the podium. But that is possible in Moto2 but in MotoGP it is very, very complicated, except in exceptional and very favorable circumstances! »
« We also see the consistency of the Yamahas which are equal to themselves: They are certainly the most homogeneous and most efficient bikes on the grid… »
Don't we rather see the consistency of a single Yamaha?
« Yes, but that’s the consistency of the Yamaha! The others are the inconstancy of the pilots! And the inability of riders to adjust a motorcycle! For Fabio, for the settings, it works with his team and he manages to find solutions, I won't say quite easily because they certainly work quite well. We did circuits that we hadn't done last year, so on these circuits you have to be able to be quickly in the game, and they were. And Fabio is the youngest rider at Yamaha and who has the least experience in MotoGP on the circuits that we had not done, because he had done them at best once in 2019. So they are came out well and I think he's the only rider at Yamaha who holds the house on a technical level. For the others, I don't know the Morbidelli case well but it seems delicate, Valentino is not good at adjusting the bike and neither is Viñales. That is to say that Viñales, if he believes that the bike is good, he wins the race, and if he has a good bike but he believes that it is not good, he will do 15. So we can't count on it.
It looks like the old days at Yamaha, where Lorenzo ran the technical house, with his settings which served as a basis for the others. When he was no longer there, it was over for those who were attached to him in settings. »
« Otherwise, at Honda, they suck a little: The beast is stubborn! We saw in the last races that they were almost the only bikes that did highsides, so I think they were busy during the holidays so that things would go better at the start of the school year, especially since they recruited into the ranks of KTM, notably Jenny Anderson (the data guy) who took care of these things for Pol who is now with Márquez. So there are people who know how to do it, because on the KTMs I think we have electronics that work really well. That should help them. »
« Otherwise, it should be noted that on the fast circuits it was the slow bikes that won. It's always funny and above all it gives hope to others, to those who are not necessarily very fast. It's interesting. »
« For the KTMs, I would say that they are in the momentum of the end of the season. They're starting to be there all the time. Miguel made three podiums in a row, including a victory… »
Why was there this dip at the start of the year at KTM?
« The dip at the start of the year is due to unfavorable circumstances and in particular the withdrawal of a type of tire from the Michelin allocation which was our favorite tire. We had a hard time getting over it because we had to change the entire balance of the bike. Okay, so little by little it's being improved, but it's not just that. That is to say that there are circuits where this tire was essential for the KTMs, and other circuits where it was not part of the allocation because it did not correspond to what there needed on these circuits. The allocation we have on these other circuits corresponds to what we had last year, so it has not handicapped us this year.
This front tire which was removed, it was the tire which was essential for us for the KTMs at the Red Bull Ring, so we will see if the KTMs remain behind compared to last year in Austria, that is We haven't solved all the problems to use anything other than this tire.
And then, there were also things that went wrong. For example at Le Mans, Miguel was the fastest. He fell but he was the fastest. From afar ! He and the bike had the potential to win, without problem, if you analyze the curves. In Portimão, the same, it was very bad because we didn't have the tire. He therefore drove with the default tire, but he was also damn fast before being surprised. If you want, it really doesn't matter much. »
« For the others, Ducati is on its merry way. They have motorcycles that go well. Well, they have a lot of pilots and I don't know if that's good: We know that two pilots is a handicap because it's not enough, but is six or eight an advantage or a lot of work, I don't know. »
