Carpooling J.-L. Moncet: “Being a special envoy is a lifestyle choice”

The famous French journalist is the guest of the section Carpooling, to be found in AUTO issue 2263hebdo, on sale in digital version and on newsstands. While he had planned to take it easy in 2020 by stopping traveling to the circuits, it is in Paris, with his Mini Cooper, that he remembers some of the great moments of his rich career.

“I formed strong ties with three French people: Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi. Jeannot, he is completely crazy but wonderful, He explains. We did some stupid things together, he's a friend. For Alain, even if it started with Pilote Elf, it was at the end of the 1979 season that he dazzled me.

He wanted to discover the F1. So I sheltered him in my hotel room, in Montreal then in Watkins Glen. In the United States, three of us even slept with my colleague Éric Bhat. In Canada, Lauda took his first retirement after the tests. It didn't take a second for Bernie Ecclestone to call Alain and offer him the wheel at Brabham. But Alain was very strong that day. He could have jumped into the adventure without knowing the car. He wanted it, but he refused. He was already of a different cloth. » 

Ayrton Senna obviously left his mark on his career in the 1980s and 1990s. « He was not at all the angel we like to see. From the inside, we could see it clearly. I have an anecdote that sums up the character. Philip Morris (the tobacco company. Editor’s note) asked, in the mid-1980s, Alain to provide a column after each race, as he used to do with me for L'Auto Journal, but which was distributed throughout the world: New Yorker, magazine Argentinian, etc.

So I sent the section to Agnès Carlier who was in charge of communications for the tobacco company and who then distributed the text to the media. Then, Senna arrives at Alain's house, McLaren, in 1988. He must also have his column. So what do you think he could have done? “The guy who writes Prost’s texts, I rather want him to do mine“, he announced. It was Senna. »

Jean-Louis Moncet therefore takes stock of a life led at 300 miles an hour, between written journalism and TV. “There are two kinds of journalists. First of all, the guy who cooks, stays in the corridors. He climbs the ladder, because he knows how to manage a whole bunch of problems related to the organization. Then there is the special correspondent. Deciding to be a special envoy is a life choice. You no longer want to go back to the editorial office, be stuck for proofreading, searching for photos. You live free. Selfish, but free. The newspaper sends you somewhere, you manage. »

Discover the rest of Carpooling with Jean-Louis Moncet in issue 2263 of AUTOhebdo, on sale in digital version and on newsstands.