Yvan Muller: "I returned my Audi contract to Doctor Ullrich"

Hello Yvan! This is not the first time that your family has been entitled to this column. In 2018, your older sister Cathy happily lent herself to it (see Ah n°2184). How did motorsport appear in the Muller clan?

By my father, who was passionate about car racing. He raced with little means. He had a small truck for his work and used it on weekends to go to hill climbs. His big break was the Tour de France Auto, in the years 1970-1975. My sister accompanied him. Cathy is 7 years older than me, and one day on vacation, she rode a rental kart. When she got home, my father decided to buy her a kart to amuse her in the courtyard of the family business. Cathy quickly wanted to race. She took out a license, did one race, then two, then three, and so on. Same for me…

Was Cathy's experience beneficial to you?

When you have an elder who has already experienced everything you are going to experience in your career, it saves you from certain mistakes. She saved me from quite a few, and helped me make the right choices. She passed on all her technical experience to me. I took her knowledge, added mine, and it produced a good mix.

Finalist of the 1987 Elf steering wheel, you benefit from assistance… without having won it. Why?

Because I was a finalist, and among the good candidates. I drove in Formula Renault at Philippe Boespflug, who still has a small workshop in the Magny-Cours area. It was my first team, my first season and I finished 3rd in the 1988 championship (Ludovic Fabre champion. Editor's note). And Olivier Panis, winner of the Elf steering wheel, came 4th.

You had this idea in mind that to evolve, you have to do things yourself. So you created a team