A Grand Prize MotoGP pits 22 drivers against each other for 45 minutes, but behind this spectacle, intense and captivating but short, hides the hard work of several thousand men and women for more than a week. Over the months, after having retraced the saga of the institutions that are IRTA and Dorna Sports, we continue to shed a little light on this extraordinary and complex machinery which still fascinates us, as for example with our recent visit to the Race direction.
Today we take you into the Media Center, the press room reserved for journalists, held by an iron fist in a velvet glove by Friné Velilla, the mistress of the place. Always smiling and available despite the incessant activity of this anthill of several hundred individuals, she was kind enough to answer our questions about her job and this place which remains the cradle of all the information that you can read about MotoGP.
You are in charge of managing the press for Dorna Sports in MotoGP and you speak several languages fluently. Can you tell us a little about your background and the reasons that led you to take this position?
“Well, basically I trained as a translator. I studied translation at university many years ago and I always loved languages and being with people from different countries, different cultures, and so I started working for the Catalonia Rally . My very first contact with motor sports was therefore with cars. After participating in the rallies, I was hired to work in Formula 1 and MotoGP, but only on the circuits, in the media center, at the reception.
I saw all these people coming one year, then the next year, and taking amazing trips, they were going to Italy, they were going to France, and they were going to all these other wonderful places, so I said to myself, " Why not try ? ". I sent them my CV and they hired me to translate the website. So I translated the motogp.com website. It was in 2004 and it was a very small, very simple website. Of course, it kept growing, but since 2004, when I joined Dorna, I started in the communications department, and then I was also part of the commercial media department. But when the MotoGP media manager left, she asked me to take her job. So I accepted the job in 2010, but I hadn't applied for the MotoGP media manager position. But I studied to become a media manager, I like being around people, I like the languages and the atmosphere of MotoGP. »
Today, how many journalists does that represent on average per Grand Prix?
“We are back to pre-pandemic numbers, and our press center is therefore full. If we hadn't set a limit, we would have 500 or 600 journalists, but due to space and parking restrictions, we have to set a limit. So I think on average we have about..., I say on average, of course, because in the overseas races we have less and in the European races we have more, but I think that there are around 400 journalists, including all areas, because we have accreditations for television, we have radio, and the easiest to see are the written press and websites. But I more or less count the people who live in the media center. This is the area I know well. There is another area called the TV compound, they call it the Media compound now, where all the producers and TV studio offices are located. Canal+, for example, has a small office there. They also have the commentary booth, so I wouldn't count them as living in the Media Center, but they come there too. They come to speak to journalists, obtain information or attend media scrums (pilot debriefings). »
Roughly speaking, what is the distribution between TV, radio, written press, photographers and Internet: do you have figures or is it not very important?
“I can send you the numbers, yes. But that's what I tell marketing departments: "Don't take big or small numbers as a sign of success or failure, because I've limited a lot of things." For example, in the UK we don't have a lot of media but I want them to come, so I'm more flexible. In Italy I have to say “stop”, otherwise we would no longer be suitable. A lot of people want to come, and if it's not a real publication with a real MotoGP section in motorsport, we don't want them here, because we already have enough people. I have a lot of requests for blogs and small websites starting up, but I have to say "no", we can only admit websites that have a good number of visitors, good traffic figures, or journalists who are professionals and who do this for a living. There are a lot of people who want to get into MotoGP, but it's like writing your first article for an Olympic press release: you have to start with smaller categories, then publish, and when you get me shown what you publish, you can try to enter MotoGP. »
What type of problems do you sometimes face?
“Problems come in different shapes and sizes. For example, a very big problem we had this year was visas for journalists so they could go to countries that require them. It's something you don't think about, but these people have to travel, they must arrive in a country, and the visa must be taken care of. It's not my job to deal with visas, but I consider journalists to be my responsibility, and so I want them to be able to do their job properly. And if I have to intervene, then I intervene. I had to do it, for example, which was quite fun, in Motegi. I went to the starting grid and was introduced to someone from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, to whom I said straight away: “Madam, we are having problems with Indonesian visas. Can you help us, please, because if you can't help us, the journalists won't be able to come? ". She immediately gave me her address, sent me the list of journalists who had not yet received their visas, and sped up everything. Sometimes I feel like I have to roll up my sleeves, but we have to move forward, because this championship is very fast, and the absence of visas sometimes means the absence of GP coverage. This is a more specific problem, but there are other general problems that we encounter on many circuits. For example, in the media center, if the internet is not working very well or there are more people than seats, you have to carefully choose who can sit in the media center and who cannot . Access issues like this, or if there are too many fans outside the media center, but these issues are easy to fix. »
Unfortunately, what was your worst professional memory?
“My worst professional memory... Of course, there's always that moment when we lose a pilot or a pilot gets injured, or when a journalist or a photographer dies, but other than that I think the darkest period has been was that of the pandemic, when we had the chance to be able to travel again, but the media could not do so. We had a very strict COVID-19 protocol, the travel restrictions were immense, there were all these tests, all these PCRs, all these certificates. It was very hard and you could feel the anger of the journalists who could not be there and it was very difficult for them to understand and grasp the concept that it was not us who were preventing them from coming, that it was It was just a temporary situation. No one knew how long it would last, how it would evolve, how it would be resolved, how to manage it. Sure, mistakes were made, but it was like a trial and error situation: if you don't live it, you don't know how to solve problems. And of course we tried to provide the necessary information and materials to everyone who was at home. But it was very difficult at the time. »
So now, your best professional memory?
“My best professional memory, it's not one in particular, but I'm really proud when someone comes up to me and says 'you know, it's so much more practical or easier to work in MotoGP than to cover Formula 1″, or other sports, like the Olympic Games. Because what I understand from that is that it's complicated for people in other sports, and when I say people, I mean the media, the journalists, the photographers: they are here to work, they are here to do their job and go home. They're not there to sightsee, they're not there to take selfies, they have to submit photos or articles to their bosses, and I just have to make it easy for them. I'm not going to put up obstacles, I'm not going to make things difficult, just because I want it to be difficult. But in a way, I have the feeling that it is very complicated in other sports to do a very simple job and produce the material to send to their bosses. So I'm very flattered when they say that things are easier in MotoGP, that they're having fun and that it's a pleasure to work with us, that things are not complicated. »
Is there anything you can still improve for the press, for journalists? It's sometimes a bit of a mess when the pilots come to see the journalists in the press center at the same time. Could there be an ideal solution?
“(Laughs) There is no ideal solution. If there were only 20 journalists, that would be fantastic, but we don't just have 20 journalists, we have hundreds. If the pilots return to their hospitality, there is a security problem. If the runners return to their hospitality, we will have the same problem as before, that is to say that everyone speaks when they want to speak, without following a specific schedule, but if they come to the Media Center, even if they are late, journalists can work on another pilot in the meantime. Journalists don't even need to leave the press center. They're lucky enough to be able to benefit from that, and if one day they can't talk to Maverick Vinales, or if Miguel Oliveira doesn't feel well because he suffered a fall, it's not the end of the world . I think it's a very special and very privileged situation that we have, that the drivers are so cool that they can come every day to talk to the media. I don't think anyone else does.
Yes, it's sometimes crowded, yes, sometimes there are people taking selfies among the photographers, but as long as the teams and drivers are more or less happy to do that, I'm happy. Of course it's not ideal, of course I would like to have an auditorium, but then we wouldn't have the ability to improvise, like for example when one pilot is late then we have another who arrives at that time. Ideally we could just have five drivers talking and sitting in a nice place, but now everyone wants everyone every day, so that's the least bad solution, I think. »
So maybe I didn't ask the question well, but maybe you have something else in mind that you hope to improve in the future, or not, because it's all good...
“It's up to you to tell me (laughs), because if I don't hear about the reactions or the problems, I can't solve them. Something we need to look at is the rise of new media, new social media, new influencers, new content creators. Whether we like it or not, it is a reality and we must adapt to it. I don't know if this is something I need to improve on as a media manager, because I don't deal with these people. Other services take care of it. But one day we will have content creators who will share the media center with journalists from the old school, from L'Equipe, Le Monde or the daily As, and that is something we must evolve with. I am always open to suggestions, comments and media reactions. It's the only way I can improve and I try to listen to what everyone has to say and adapt as much as possible of course. So I'm open. I am open to suggestions and complaints. »
What are the effects of MotoGP in the world press?
“I told myself that we were very lucky to work in a very exciting sport and that each season was even more exciting than the others. We thought that the departure of Valentino Rossi, and perhaps the period when Marc Marquez was not racing, would reduce interest, but the spectators are still very enthusiastic. The races are super exciting, we have news on and off the track, the media is very excited too with the team change of Marc Marquez leaving Honda and going to Ducati, with Luca Marini and Johann Zarco going to Honda, things like that. So it's great when we have all that and it's not just controversy:: it's news and it's not horrible news, but interesting news. So I'm very, very grateful to be in this sport. I think there's good sportsmanship, good things happen. I'm also very comfortable in the media center with the group of journalists I have to deal with: These are not people who like anger and hatred, you know, these are people who like sport, who are very passionate. They always say that cars have money and motorcycles have passion. So I'm very proud to be where passion reigns, which makes my work very, very enjoyable. You know, I really look forward to going to every race, I really look forward to traveling, I look forward to the start of the next season when one ends, and I think it does of most of us in the paddock. We always hear, "Yeah, we need a break in the winter, but we can't wait to get started," and the fans can't wait for it to start again, so it's really cool to be a part of it. »
One last question, more personal, to finish: after work, do you ride a motorcycle?
“No (Laughs). I have a two-wheeler. Real bikers wouldn't call it a motorcycle because it's an automatic, the SH 300. It's just good for me. I have a motorcycle, I have a license, but I only use it to commute, not to ride on the track. I don't like speed, because I'm very afraid of falling, so I don't have the racing spirit in me. So it's just a tool. »
Yes, but you use it every day and it's more than 125cc, so it's good, you're a “biker”, in French!
Our thanks to Friné Velilla for its accessibility and the time devoted to answering our questions.
