Quebecer Donald Lauture experienced Max Verstappen’s first coronation like no one else: by having the champion and his team dance on a yacht.
Donald Lauture has been a DJ at the Formula 1 Paddock Club for six years. This year, he will be present for 15 of the 22 races on the calendar, including this weekend in Montreal. We met him on Friday afternoon, during free practice, the only time of day when he can get away from his mixing desk.
The Montrealer remembers this day of December 12, 2021, in Abu Dhabi, as if it were yesterday. He smiled with full teeth while telling us about it.
By pure chance, he was not in the Paddock Club that day; he had been called upon to replace the DJ of the Red Bull team, in the team suite, located at the top of the garage.
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Max Verstappen (centre), here at the Texas Grand Prix, scored 10 wins in 2021, the year he won his first Drivers’ Championship ahead of Lewis Hamilton (left).
F1 fans will remember this first championship for Verstappen, who trailed until the very last lap of a final race which would determine who, him or Lewis Hamilton, would be crowned.
At 53e lap, an accident involving driver Nicholas Latifi had forced the exit of the safety car. That’s where it all came down to, when the race direction had allowed a last lap to be held… The Dutchman, with fresh tyres, was able to overtake Hamilton in the final seconds to win.
“When there were 10 laps left, you could see the atmosphere in the square, it was dead. I have videos,” says Lauture.
The the crash. There is a safety car. Max goes to the pits. […] When he leaves, it screams, I put on the music. […] I played One More Time, We Are the Champions…
Donald Lauture, who recounts the end of Max Verstappen’s race
Initially, theafter party of Red Bull to celebrate the championship was to take place in a hotel, explains the DJ, but Mercedes filed two challenges to the final result. The team therefore canceled its evening, pending the verdict. It wasn’t until hours later that Verstappen was officially crowned champion.
“I get a call at 2 am: Donald, where are you? I reply that I am at my hotel. They tell me: you have to come back, Max is on a yacht and he wants a DJ. He was crowned champion. »
The party lasted until 6 a.m. “It was quite impressive to be there for that moment. It was truly an iconic moment in F1 history. »
DJ around the world
At 44, Donald Lauture has traveled, and still travels, around the world thanks to his work. A remarkable feat for someone who started mixing at the age of 15 “for the fun “.
His first “big gig” came in 1999, at the defunct Le Dôme bar in Montreal. Then, he “never looked back again”.
I started with vinyls, it was a trip. Then I asked myself: how can I break through? To be very honest, if you were a black, Haitian DJ at the time, you were going into hip-hop.
Donald Lauture
One thing leading to another, his work took him internationally. Since 2009, he has stopped counting the time spent on planes: Paris, London, Dubai, Hong Kong…
“It’s not a question of being better than the other, it’s just a question of asking. Me, I ask. I send emails, I manage myself. I don’t have a manager, I never had a manager. I have many friends too who have helped me. »
The opportunity to work for Formula 1 came by chance. In 2015, he hosted the official DJ of Red Bull in Montreal. A year later, the latter called him three days before the start of the Canadian Grand Prix.
“He tells me that his guy who travels with F1 for him can’t come back because he didn’t get his visa. He asks me if I’m available. I answer: well, yeah, I’m coming. I did over the weekend. »
The following year he was invited back. In 2018, he did six races, then 13 in 2019, 13 in 2020… Today, at the age of 44, Donald Lauture no longer travels to mix. He mixes to travel.
“I use the fact that I’m a DJ to go and discover different places,” he summarizes.