Returning from Texas where they finished third and seventh respectively in the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas, fabio quartararo et Johann zarco passed through Paris for the traditional press conference for the French Grand Prix which will take place from May 12 to 14 on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans.
As in previous years, this event was held on a Bateaux Mouches barge moored on the quays of the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, and, tired but relaxed, the pilots willingly took part in the question-and-answer game. .
After those placed inside the boat (which you can see here) came the turn of those stated by the journalists present, specialized or not.
After great things in Portugal and Argentina, it was more complicated this weekend in Austin. What bothered you?
Johann zarco : " Well, the route, the bumps, even if it's the same for everyone. I see that I am still in this search to be very relaxed on the bike to save energy. I have trouble relaxing on this track. If I don't push myself, I feel like I can't make the time. At least in Austin. That's why I was happy, during the long race, to have rhythm and at one point to manage to place the bike without going to the end of myself. But yes, Portugal, there was a better pace at the start, it could have played for the podium at the end, but it was a great 4th place. Argentina, in conditions where I expected to win, but I came across Bezzecchi who left too quickly. The group in front left too quickly anyway. I didn't have this speed, I was able to make a great comeback and achieve a great podium. And then Texas, saving the furniture! That was really it, because the sensations weren't great. I expected a difficult race and indeed it is the circuit that wants that. But if I want to manage the championship well, I find that it is also not bad to be able to realize its qualities and its faults, and therefore in a weekend where it can be less well, having when even the ability to insure. »
If we look ahead to the French Grand Prix, is there always pressure when you are a French driver?
« Yes, but no more pressure than elsewhere, because we are super busy. In fact, we don't have time. to think about it too much, to wait for the event. It arrives when it arrives, and we are busy almost every day. But there you go, you have to organize yourself well because, one week at a Grand Prix in Europe, as Fabio says, we can almost arrive on Thursday morning or Wednesday evening and we do our media and technical day with the team, and then there is Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which pass at breakneck speed. There, for me, for the French Grand Prix, it will already start on Monday where I will go to the Pramac Europe offices in Roanne. Then, an event in Paris on Tuesday and a parade on Wednesday around Le Mans. That alone, in fact, is the kind of thing that gets you into the Grand Prix and maybe can lead to pressure. But with experience, we manage it. »
We still have a special audience, especially when we are a French pilot…
« On ! On ! And there, as they say, now the circuits are having difficulty filling the circuits with the public, except in France! So, it creates a big atmosphere. As a MotoGP rider, it's more demanding but there, the same: with experience you learn not to feel bad if you can't do everyone. At the beginning, I said “Ah damn”, and so you take time but in fact it takes a lot of energy. There you go, I try to give of myself, but without drawing on the energy that will be useful on the track. »
La Dorna gave him the Best Grand Prix award last year. Would you also put him on the podium in that place?
« For me, yes, the best Grand Prix to know how to fill the stands, from Friday to Sunday, even on Thursday: a world of madness. The track remains interesting but I don't think Dorna can vote best Grand Prix simply by the track or the technique. There might be other, more interesting avenues on this. But no, it's actually for all the excitement that it generates, and for me, yes, clearly on the podium, but above all first, far ahead of a lot of other Grands Prix. »
Do others appreciate this enthusiasm that there is less elsewhere?
« Completely ! Even the mechanics, the team managers, all that. They have the impression of reliving the Grand Prix years of the 90s or early 2000s, where there were almost people everywhere. There, since COVID, it's hard to have people everywhere, and we know why. Everything is very expensive and there are still only the countries of the East or the North, with Holland, the Sachsenring, where they still remain two places where we feel people who have the pleasure of coming to watch the event to experience the event. »
Johann, the Marseillaise this year, is it possible?
« Yes, it's possible on quite a few circuits. Why not at Le Mans? But it's possible, right? That's what I'm aiming for, because a lot of people say that's what I'm missing. So, we race for that, to win, when we can and when we have the bike. »
You changed your surroundings a little: Did that change anything for you? Did you need a renewal?
« We need renewal because we go through the years and we seek to perform. We understand that repeating what we knew how to do before doesn't necessarily work. Finally, you have to know how to do other things. But we also realize over time that trying to do something else completely, we must not lose our qualities either. So, this year, there you go, I have enough, let's say discovered, and developed techniques on weak points, and this year, I want to take the strong points with what I have filled in the weak points . Winning combo? To have. »
Today, what do you think of the championship's efforts to reach out to the public?
« We can have an opinion, but it's hard to say what they are doing, how they think about it. From an organizational point of view, clearly PHA, it is the group, manages very well, and moreover it is also starting to be able to organize other events like the 24 hours of SPA, and in my opinion there could even be more other Grands Prix in addition to the French Grand Prix. Then, Dorna hates being compared to Formula 1 and as Formula 1 has had a huge boom at the public level, it's another measure in terms of money but there has been a huge boom, so there have been comparisons. And even if Dorna doesn't like being compared, we are perhaps trying to do things to attract the public or provide proximity. But there you have it, you have to know how to do it to a certain extent and there they are testing things which are not yet approved by everyone, and which in my opinion have not completely proven good results. Good things are done, others not so good, so we have to manage to find them. It's looking for now and I think it's almost there. We need Claude (Michy)'s opinion on that, because he could perhaps bring more things, but on the French Grand Prix, we are going to do things a bit different than what we usually do. on the other Grand Prix. And that might give Dorna some good ideas. »
Earlier there was a question about the impact of motor sports on the environment. Can you tell us again what you think about it?
« We are singled out because a motor sport pollutes, but we must realize that if we take the figures, we are clearly not the worst in terms of pollution at events, at our Grands Prix, in carbon footprint since they count polluting sports or events like that. And in fact, what we push with the high level and the competition is technology: As I say, we have more and more power with less and less gasoline. So for me, the thermal engine has a future, because it is what can consume the least energy, more than an electric motor which seems clean but which is neither clean at the start, nor clean afterwards. . Why are we going electric? It's more because of this image of being clean in the instant, the truly present moment. I don't know why people are suddenly looking into this, and even the manufacturers who have the power to be able to develop the thermal engine, but I think that they continue to develop the thermal engine because in my opinion they are aware that it can be managed very well. This is a very sensitive subject: it's easy to point fingers at us, but we still develop so many things that if we have to respond, we have the elements to defend ourselves. »
