Lack of charismatic WRC drivers

[Fide]

Nobody will deny we face lack of WRC competing factories (doesn't matter the reasons since not the goal of this tread).

The question is: Do we have charismatic (plus talent) drivers ?
We consume info about efforts being made by Solberg to return; an isolated try from retired Gronholm and nothing else..... I mean, it seems Loeb - Hirvonen and couple more doesn't have the charism (as Lauda said about Hamilton) to attract the fans...

What the old guys like Sainz-McRae-Burns-Makinen-Rhol-Biasion-etc. etc HAD ? Probably blood on their veins ?

[tmx]

Yeah they are are really boring. They have nothing interesting things to say during interviews, everytime Loeb/Dani interview: blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. But this is sort of expect as the sport become more money driven, more sponsor and adverstisement, and restriction from the team not wanting the driver to bad mouth the brand name so the driver ins't allow to say anything bad or have unkempt hair. Also because of technology of the car and the requirement to finish rallies since it cost so much to drive. Before I got into rallying, I got bored of circuit racing because of how controlled the driving become.

[Fide]

TMX : Partially agree.... F1 has more or less same restrictions and drivers do their own to attract public; even their interviews (not always) have info to read between lines when not direct fighting inside or outside the races.....

I think this generation (with some exceptions like Solberg-Gally-Gronholm) is really boring .... I know Sebastian in person and my granma has more interesting speech than him..........................

[driveace]

I feel the big problem here is that all the team members arefrightened to say anything ,that can be misinterpreted.This also applies to the mechanics too,you ask them a question on events ,and they are afraid of expressing an opinion.I am sure they are threatened that,a word out of place means your down the road.Why do team members at F1 tape all their drivers interviews,this closed shop attitude is what annoys the spectators

[Helstar]

I think this generation (with some exceptions like Solberg-Galli-Gronholm) is really boring .... I know Sebastian in person and my granma has more interesting speech than him..........................

So true

[BDunnell]

I feel the big problem here is that all the team members arefrightened to say anything ,that can be misinterpreted.This also applies to the mechanics too,you ask them a question on events ,and they are afraid of expressing an opinion.I am sure they are threatened that,a word out of place means your down the road.Why do team members at F1 tape all their drivers interviews,this closed shop attitude is what annoys the spectators

This is exactly the problem. It pervades almost all public comment on any subject nowadays.

As for the drivers of the past, there were always uninteresting ones and interesting ones. I think Röhrl was considered a bit of a 'loose cannon' even in the early 1980s. Tony Pond always seemed good for a witty, pithy quote. Ari Vatanen was a highly articulate interviewee, and when one sees old film of (the university-educated) Hannu Mikkola being spoken to for TV after some complete disaster, it is quite unbelievable how relaxed he seems.

[big_sw2000]

What about Jari Matti, the most exciting driver there now.

[ste898]

I agree 100% but I always used to get slated on here for saying things like this and now they are all coming out on forums........strange!!!

[Sulland]

So apart from the Solberg English, that in itself is cool - when they are "high" on driving, not much, since Galli left.

What about the up and coming next generation - are there any of them with charisma ? Or are they all polished, and trained monkeys as well ?

[Fide]

I really don´t think it is a matter related to what they can say or not related to their respective teams. For me to be charismatic is more tied to share with fans their feelings, driving tales, accidents, errors (like someone told about Mikola). It is related to openness, to be funny... that sort of things that are more related to the person. People wants to understand what his "hero" feels, experiences etc. Not just to see a robot like Loeb.