Brazilian Grand Prix – Julien Fébreau’s column

In the shuttle that takes us to the Interlagos circuit, I was planning, on this Sunday morning of the Grand Prix, to tell you about my best memories in São Paulo. My narrowly avoided road accident with Kimi Räikkönen a few years ago, or my arrest by the local police for stopping at a red light, while in the middle of the night it is better to trace your route, according to your own setting in custody of the constabulary... All this will ultimately have to wait, but I promise, one day I will tell you!

As our tenth season on Canal+ ends in a few days in Abu Dhabi, I chose to talk to you about our team. You regularly ask me about the way the group “lives” at the Grands Prix, or the atmosphere that reigns there.

Since 2013, Canal+ has covered the F1 with serious…

At the risk of falling into a cliché, it's a real family that we form in F1. A dozen people travel to each circuit and twice that number makes up the editorial and production team in Paris. Like an F1 team, everyone is in their place and plays a well-defined role. Accomplishing your mission remains the priority, but everyone knows how to become a support to the rest of the group.

Making television requires extensive means of sound, image, transmission... However, twenty-two times a year (soon 24!) the miracle is accomplished and for three days we find our subscribers on the Canal+ antennas. “ You two seem very close on air. », I am often told. Know that we really are. Since our beginnings in 2013, a very powerful team spirit has been created. While we spend more time on the field together than with our families, we take special care of each other. If one of us feels less well, it's the rest of the team that comes together around him.

Traveling to the ends of the world all year round is an extraordinary opportunity that we appreciate perfectly. However, it is sometimes difficult to absorb time differences and not find one's bearings in impersonal hotel rooms. Observing the lives of your loved ones from a distance is not easy either. This is how I have always required my people in France to never give me bad news when I am traveling. Distance and powerlessness to act can undermine. However, the phone of my comrades at the Grands Prix is ​​never switched off in the event of a downturn and the same goes for each of them.

…but without taking yourself too seriously!

More pleasantly, know that to be part of the group, you will need humor and a lot of self-deprecation. In the shuttles that take us from the airports to the hotels or to the circuits, the jokes and the punchlines fly… Just like on the air in the end! I believe that this is also what makes our programs strong. This atmosphere is never faked. We are in front of the cameras as in life, and I firmly believe that this contributes to the success of F1 on Canal.

There remains a tradition from which we never deviate on the Sunday before the “Rendez-Vous au Premier Virage”. A few seconds before we go on air, Jacques Villeneuve, Alain Vancoillie (manager of our commentary booth) and I high five. At this moment, in my earpiece, the voice of Dominique Sidiropoulos, our publishing head in Paris, rings out, systematically whispering to me: “ Come on, good match! ».

This moment has always galvanized me. I know nothing can happen to me anymore. I only have one desire: to share with my group of friends on the circuit, and all our subscribers, the Grand Prix which is about to begin. So, for one last time this year friends in Abu Dhabi, “ Turn up the volume… ”

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