In this instance I agree with Penasse. There's no point having 3 horses in the race and only feeding one.
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Hyundai with best team spirit, joke of the year:D
What tactics? Neuville had comfortable lead at mid year. He lost the championship because of him, not because of Evans. He should think less to percentages and tactics and more on being less arrogant and play his game bravely.
That's what a leader do, and that's how Ogier earned that kind of status on M-Sport.
I don't wanna be too rude since after all Neuville has been a great driver last years, after a bad moment. But if the first thing Neuville said after his defeat is that and not "I will work on improve the way I manage a favorable situation because that made me lose two championships with a better car" then he really is hopeless.
The really unlucky retirement in Turkey cost Neuville a huge amount of points, but it was still in his hands. The stupid mistake in Wales however cost him what could have been a win, certainly at least a Podium. Two poor back-to-back events that you just can't afford to have at that stage of the season.
Hyundai have to look at themselves first before crying about Msport, but they're still a proper team and have a good car. No need for anyone to get too hysterical just because they narrowly missed out. It's fine fine margins and it's great to see they're committed long term.
You can call it unlucky and maybe it was, but they knew the rough roads were going to be hard on the cars - his team-mate drove a strategic rally to look after the car and finished on the podium as a result. You might not make your own luck completely, but you can certainly contribute to it.
Agreed about the fine margins and no need to panic though - often its just a few key moments that make the difference.
I wonder what's happening at Hyundai... First there were all these rumors about the imminent driver announcements, but nothing happened. During Rally Australia it seemed obvious that Paddon was truly in the dark about his position in the team in 2019. One might guess that means he's out - if he was about to stay, the team surely would have let him know that before the last rally of the season. Could it be possible that the Koreans have gone apeshit for once again losing the bid for both titles, and are demanding some changes in the team (i.e. more dramatic changes than just bringing Huttunen in for few rallies)? I still don't believe in that scenario where Paddon would be let off in favor of Sordo and Huttunen sharing the third car. Could Hyundai have a genuine wildcard in their sleeve?
What do they have available? Evans, Østberg and Breen aren't really better than any of their current drivers, assuming the car has issues with most drivers other than Neuville. Will they throw enough money to get Loeb to fill in for what they're lacking in on tarmac pace?
Good question. Driver market is quite flat at the moment. Le Maestro is obviously out and any of the trio of Evans, Östberg and Breen isn't exactly what the team needs. Maybe Evans would have the best shot out of these three, but is hardly an upgrade from Paddon. Talking about wildcards, that one Swede still isn't under any contract for next year...?