The Craftsmen

I DIDN’T GROW UP dreaming of checkered flags, I grew up with the smell of earth, not burnt rubber. In Courroux, a small Swiss village nestled in the canton of Jura, life follows the tempo of the seasons. It’s quiet. Honest. Grounded. If you’d asked anyone in my neighborhood what I’d be when I grew up, they might’ve said a farmer. Maybe a mechanic. Racing driver? That was another planet.

And yet, that planet had a gravity I couldn’t resist. I was three when I first touched a steering wheel, perched in a kart on the family track in Develier. The wheel was bigger than my hands could hold. But something in the sensation of motion, the hum of the engine under my body—it lit a fuse.

By seven, I had my first racing license, the youngest in Switzerland at the time. Not that we had the budget to chase every karting championship. No, we made do. Thousands of laps on rental karts. Old tires. Late nights adjusting setups in garages lit by a single bulb. But if you ask me where I learned to feel a car—not just drive, but feel—it was on those lonely circuits. No glamour. Just laps. And love.

A Line in the Asphalt

It was 2015 when the path sharpened. A test in Chambley—my first time in a single-seater. The stopwatch didn’t lie. I’d set a benchmark. It wasn’t supposed to happen that fast. But it did. A year later, I entered the V de V series. Three podiums as a rookie. People started noticing. They saw results. What they didn’t see were the nights I lay awake visualizing every corner, every braking point. The hunger didn’t leave space for sleep.

Then came the pivotal years—2017 to 2019—in Italian and German F4. These championships are ruthless, shaped by money as much as talent. We didn’t have the former. But I had consistency. I had focus. I wasn’t the flashiest. I didn’t win headlines. I just kept showing up, improving, understanding.

And then…I met Dominique.

The Watchmaker And The Racer

Dominique Guenat didn’t approach me like others had. He didn’t ask how fast I was. He asked why I raced. He saw past the results, into the core of who I was—a young man obsessed with doing things properly, quietly, with purpose. We come from the same country, yes. But more than that, we share a belief: excellence isn’t loud. It’s disciplined. Demanding. And deeply human.

Through Dominique, I became part of the Richard Mille family. Not as a marketing face—but as a craftsman, in a different form. A driver who views his car like a watchmaker sees a movement. Each component matters. Nothing is trivial. Everything must work in harmony.

2021: The Year the World Noticed

For the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship, I was with ART Grand Prix. For once, all the pieces aligned—team, preparation, experience, clarity of mind. I wasn’t chasing victory. I was expressing it.

Eight wins. Eight poles. Ten podiums. The championship. But I don’t measure that year in trophies. I measure it in the flow—the rare, almost mystical feeling when your thoughts, reflexes, and instincts are synced. When the car becomes an extension of your nervous system. When noise turns into silence, and everything just…works.

Monaco: Where the Circuit Breathes Back

There are tracks. And then there is Monaco.

It’s not just a race. It’s a negotiation between the driver and the spirit of racing itself. There is no runoff, no forgiveness. You don’t conquer Monaco. You earn its respect.

I’ve raced here four times. In 2020, I was cautious—learning the walls, the rhythm, the myths. In 2021, I came back bolder. Still, it wasn’t mine yet. 2022, sharper. Closer. And then, 2023.

That year, something shifted. I wasn’t just driving Monaco. I was speaking its language. The overtake at Sainte-Dévote—it wasn’t planned. It was felt. A decision born in a fraction of a second, but a decade in the making. I stood on the podium that day, but it wasn’t about the result. It was about communion. Between driver, car, and history.

That podium—it’s in my bloodstream now.

A New Discipline, A New Dawn

In 2024, we turned a page. Endurance racing. The World Endurance Championship with United Autosports and McLaren LMGT3.

This isn’t about the fastest lap anymore. It’s about synergy. You drive for yourself, your teammates, your engineers. You manage fatigue, temperature, tires, changing light, the unknown. It’s humbling.

And I love it.

Three fourth-place finishes in my debut season. Not yet the summit, but the climb is honest. In November, the team offered me a second season. That kind of faith—it fuels you.

The Invisible Thread

What ties it all together—every lap in Develier, every whisper of tire on tarmac in Monaco, every hour in the cockpit at night during an endurance race—is a belief: that racing isn’t just competition. It’s character.

Dominique Guenat saw this before most. Richard Mille too. They didn’t just support me—they challenged me to stay true to myself. In an era of flash and fast fame, we’ve built something slower, but deeper. A story made of substance.

I’m not chasing noise. I’m building a voice. And if you hear it, if it resonates, maybe there’s space in this story for you too.

Because this isn’t just about a driver. It’s about a way of moving through the world—with elegance, with resolve, and with the quiet certainty that every corner taken with care…leads somewhere extraordinary.

By Grégoire Saucy

Contributor

Grégoire Saucy, hailing from Courroux, Switzerland, is a professional race-car driver, who clinched the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship with eight wins and a 2023 Monaco podium. Transitioning to the 2024 World Endurance Championship with United Autosports and McLaren LMGT3, he secured three fourth-place finishes.