Hervé Poncharal may well express himself very regularly in our columns (see here), and this, without using jargon in order to better share with you the emotions that one can experience during a Grand Prix weekend, he is still required to maintain a certain reserve with regard to various entities such as, for example, Yamaha which rents its equipment as well as engineers, as well as a laudable desire not to accuse anyone working in its box.
This is not our case, and when we see that various incidents affect the passion and morale of the men of the team Monster Tech3, while they are in no way responsible, it seems our duty to clarify the truth, if only to shed light on the way a satellite team functions.
Let's quickly move on to the incident that occurred at Jonas Folger during the Warm up at Silverstone. From expert meetings, a report of several dozen pages was drawn up, revealing that the assembly of the brakes was perfect and that the components of the braking system, entirely new, were perfect. Tech3 and Brembo had therefore provided perfect equipment to Jonas Folger, who simply had to break it in by licking the pads for a lap before attacking as much as possible. This was probably not done...
In Misano, the problem was quite different. Responsibility for the quantity of fuel on board falls to the Japanese engineers seconded by Yamaha Factory and permanently present in the Tech3 box. There are two of them, they are easily recognized by their blue T-shirts with logos, and their role consists of supervising the use of the M1s in general, and their engines in particular.
Taking into account the rain forecast for the Grand Prix and the two reconnaissance laps announced by Johann zarco, they therefore calculated the consumption of the four-cylinder for 32 revolutions and established a certain quantity of gasoline to put in the tank.
The announced figure immediately seemed strangely low to the Tech3 team, who then asked for it to be verified, which is not easy when dealing with Japanese engineers who, until now, had never deceived, and whose sense of honor is known... The latter nevertheless reaffirmed that their figure was accurate and sufficient to cross the finish line, including the two reconnaissance laps.
We know what happens next: like a can of gasoline running out, the engine cutting out, Johann who immediately understands the origin of the problem and tries to make his momentum last as long as possible before throw all his strength into a stroller that will leave him in tachycardia once he crosses the finish line!
Please note: this is not about imagining a ridiculous conspiracy theory or throwing stones at anyone! To err is human and only those who have never made one could do so.
But it's just a matter of reestablishing the truth to boost the morale a little of this entire French team which invests 100% during each Grand Prix weekend, and which has just experienced two particularly disappointing rounds of the world championship. and frustrating, even and especially if they are not responsible for it.
Johann Zarco obviously knows all of this and has 1000% confidence in his team. His mind is already turned towards Aragon where he will be keen to forget this stroke of bad luck.
Hervé Poncharal, he, let's say it frankly, has the balls. This makes twice that the competence of his team could seem to be called into question, when this is absolutely not the case.
And worse, he can't really say it!
Whatever the consequences for us, and without informing him, it seemed right to us to do it for him...
