At 22, he was the first French motorcycle world champion. In Paris Match, he confided his winning secrets.
A young man, leaping, opens the door of his house planted on a snow-covered hill in the Pyrenees. He smiles with all his teeth, hops more than he walks, gives off the energy of a wild horse locked in a box. He hides this nuclear turbine, which knots his guts, behind smiles of menthol freshness, an old-fashioned relaxation of the media and an equal good humor: he’s on vacation, he’s there for that, and above all he’s like that. Cool. It is the reputation that pursues him on the paddocks and beyond: crowned MotoGP world champion on October 24 in Misano, Italy, Fabio Quartararo, 22, the first French champion in the history of the premier category, is a young man appreciated by all. An American rap tune echoes in the living room, a game console controller is placed on the coffee table. Everything is in order. His suits are hung in his garage, next to the beautiful cars, a Ferrari F8, an Audi RS6, a BMW M2, and motocross; Fabio does not have a motorcycle license.
Also read:2021, a year of sport in pictures
He orders pizzas for his guests while the photographer sets up his equipment. He will eat a salad: “I must be careful. I weigh myself everyday, I tend to gain weight. The voice is calm, calm, with a slight, strange accent. The champion dropped out of school early (“She didn’t teach me anything useful!”) But has always spoken Spanish to his motorbike, English or Italian to his engineers, French to his family and his relatives. First impression: its joyful simplicity, which radiates the household decorated with trophies and helmets, is not feigned. Second impression: it’s not just an impression. Fabio really doesn’t have the soul of a self-centered diva. In an individual sport like motorcycling, his benevolent, conciliatory personality stands out. Generally, to ride as fast as him, the cracks need to hate someone, to be tough on braking. This biker is carved out of another, softer wood, an essence of which we make excellent boy scouts but few champions. And yet… His agent, Éric Mahé, also a former champion, broods his foal with a tender and lucid gaze: “Fabio does not need enemies to be the best, that’s what makes him unique. “
You have to see him politely spell his name at the reception of a sports hall in La Massana, a village planted in the reliefs of the Pyrenees, where he lives, in Andorra, in front of a young woman not very familiar with sports news mechanical. Behind him, in the hall, men who recognized the world champion chuckle. Fabio Quartararo, friend of Kylian Mbappé or Neymar, is not annoyed; he does so without mowing then goes to the gym to maintain that lean and dry feline body which is his working tool. A few centuries ago, sailors had the idea of tattooing their skin so that their bodies, deformed by the surf, could be identified after a shipwreck. On Fabio Quartararo’s left arm and back, his tattoos map as closely as possible his history, his tastes, his personality: a tiger, his favorite animal; a rose, for her mother who works in a hairdressing salon in Nice; a musical note, because he listens to it all the time; a compass, for its incessant journeys in order to reach the circuits of the planet; a clock, for this stopwatch against which he fights on each lap of the track; a “Family first”, which says in two words the importance of links; a cathedral and a virgin, because he believes in God.
Already on the track at 5, with his parents, Étienne and Martine, his brother, Anthony. In Biot, summer 2004. © DR
God too believed very early in Fabio, who, at 5, gets on his first motorbike. His father, Étienne, former French 125 motorcycle champion and locksmith, couldn’t believe his ease. He quickly understands that the passion of his youngest child will have to flourish beyond the Pyrenees, where age is not a problem to compete. At 7, the Niçois made his debut in the Spanish championship. With his father, they swallow every weekend the 1,200 kilometers there and back that separate them from Catalonia. Fabio is already shining in the sky, chaining the victories (2008 in 50 cm3, 2009 in 70 cm3, 2011 in 80 cm3, 2012 in 125 cm3). The cylinders are growing, the cups are piling up on the shelves. The kid earns a nickname, “El Diablo”, the inscription that appears on his first helmet. At 13, he left the family home and moved to the south-east of Spain. In 2013 and 2014, he was the first Frenchman to dominate the Spanish Sprint Championship (CEV). When did he realize he had something more? “In 2006, I think,” he replies. I was 7 years old. On a training circuit near Marseille, I fell, but I realized that I was faster than the others even though they were older than me. “
“
When I was 7, I fell, but I realized that I was faster than the others, older
“
In 2015, before his 15th birthday, thanks to a derogation, he entered the world championship. Little Mozart then lost track of his scores for three years. The results do not live up to expectations. The teenager has to endure immense pressure. These failures build the future winner, but you must first experience them, digest them, ruminate on them: “When I won the title, I thought back to those years when nobody believed in me, to those comments on Instagram after a bad season. It was a picture of me at the beach with friends, and people were like, “Go workout instead of going to the beach.” It hurt me, because I had given everything. “
It will be necessary to wait for the arrival of Eric Mahé to complete the construction of the champion. The briscard is the chief engineer of the daily life of Fabio Quartararo. It is he who takes care of his contracts with manufacturers, brands like IKKS, of which he is the muse, and his public relations. “Everything, in fact,” he laughs. Fabio moves to Andorra and can concentrate on his piloting, while Eric advises, reassures, tightens the bolts, oils the cogs, blocks the invaders. On his bike, Fabio is flexible, regular, serene, irresistible: in 2021, he won five times, as many pole positions, and finished all races except one. Each time, a third guy accompanies him and completes the team. When you do not know anything about this environment, its role is difficult to explain: Thomas Maubant plays video games in the motor home and listens, a happy shadow who follows Fabio wherever he goes. The race to the top is often a long road of loneliness paved with sacrifice. An unwavering friend is a lifeline to hold onto.
Time for training, at his home in Andorra. © Ilan DEUTSCH / Paris Match
In front of a glass of sparkling water, Fabio sums up, laughing, his philosophy on the track: “A guy who is in front of me is not normal. “Then he comes back to this kindness, this flexibility that everyone has told us about:” You cannot start the race by telling yourself that you are the good one. I change my personality when I get on the bike. I’m becoming a killer, without it you can’t become world champion. »Fabio talks about his training alone in the mountains, traveling, this existence far from his parents and his brother, so important to him, his evenings that he, the party animal, strictly forbids himself during the season, his days that start and end early, the absence of friendships in the paddock (“Respect, yes; friends, no”), loose ties with friends outside of the motorcycle world. And, little by little, we measure the loneliness of the champion in the high altitudes. “You get used to it,” he smiles. This is the price to pay to enjoy the crazy sensations of speed and the ultimate pleasure of winning: “Happiness is so powerful when you know how much you have endured to get there!” “
When he was high as a scooter, Fabio admired the immense Italian champion Valentino Rossi. This year, the Italian retired, and the French, the legendary place in the Yamaha team. It’s his turn to inspire swarms of kids. He is aware of it, even if it sometimes frightens him to see children cry for joy in his path. We ask him a stupid question, hoping to get an intelligent answer: why does he think he is going faster than so many others who train, too, and who also sacrifice everything? She bursts out after a few seconds of reflection: “Because I have Eric, Tom and my family with me. And also, maybe, because I’m having fun. ”
Any reproduction prohibited