So how did M-Sport pull off the signing of the silly season?

“It is not easy to attract an ex-world champion to the team when we only won one event during the year,” Millener tells Autosport. “You have got to try hard to persuade him that we know what we are doing and this is the right car, package and team to win. And that takes a lot of time.

“I think there is a lot of trust in Malcolm and in us and what we have done. He [Ott] is experienced enough and sensible enough to know what the car is capable of. I think those were the points that allowed him to make the decision to come to us, but it took a long time.

“Often it takes a lot longer to do something like this than people think. There are a lot of complex issues in terms of contracts and various bits that need to be sorted.


“It was a bit like the deal with Loeb in 2022. You think 'is it actually physically possible to achieve this with someone like Ott?' 'Are we setting our sights too high?' I think those thoughts came and went a number of times.

“There was a concerted effort between a number of sponsors and M-Sport and Malcolm himself. We can’t do it without the support of Ford, and not necessarily in fully funding Ott, but in ensuring that we are going to have development and we are going to have a push towards keeping the car as competitive as possible.

“All of those things combined is what has allowed us to get there. It is a great team effort.”

Full article https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/h...ning/10410948/