Julien Moncet: “They gave me the castle without providing me with all the keys”

Holder of an original career, the Frenchman had a good 2022 season despite the lack of consideration from his employer. If he still appears in the organization chart of the South Korean team, the Riviera does not yet know what his future will hold.

Published on 13/01/2023 à 13:30

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Julien Moncet: “They gave me the castle without providing me with all the keys”

Carpooling with Julien Moncet - Deputy Director of Hyundai Motorsport © Bastien Baudin / Hyundai

Just for a little laugh: how is your father Jean-Louis?

(He is laughing) If you only knew how many times I have been asked this question! I am not the son of Jean-Louis (famous journalist F1. Editor’s note), but his nephew.

Does he still have something to do with your attraction to motorsport?

My first memories of cars are linked to the passion that my father had and still has (Gérard, former head of operations at Air France, captain and ex-fighter pilot. Editor's note) for cars. American. Starting the V8 in the morning, when it shakes everywhere, is part of my childhood. We had a Ford Mustang, a Camaro RS…

Did you use them every day? You should not have gone unnoticed!

Yes, I went to school with this Chevrolet which was a special series LT type with the Targa sunroof. There were only two in France at that time, one yellow and black and ours which was red and black. We kept it for a long time since it was then I who used it during my studies. This created a lot of problems for me, because people thought it was a pretty amazing rich person's car, even though it cost way less than a Porsche.

Did you learn to drive on it?

No, but my debut was still made on a nice car: a 205 GTI. My mother has had several and one of them was badly damaged. Instead of it going to the scrapyard, I picked it up to repair it. I must have been 16 years old and I practiced accompanied driving. I don't