It's extra tough to judge the Meeke/C3 combo given his own errors on the two rallies. He might have been on the podium on either event if he'd made no mistakes... IF.
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It's extra tough to judge the Meeke/C3 combo given his own errors on the two rallies. He might have been on the podium on either event if he'd made no mistakes... IF.
I don't know if someone sees it also but in Monte, Meeke said after some stage(WRC+ onboard between stage end and TC) that "that car is undrivable" and Sweden in SS17 after spin, he says that "i don't want to drive this f...ing car...". So my opinion is that there is some real problems with that car... I really hope that those problems are just setting things. If the problem are some where else, then they are in deep shit...
Problems between members in team as well?? Could it make impact on his driving I mean.
Per, do you mean:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
1)team problems between driver and management
2)team problems between driver and co-driver
or
3)team problems between the drivers
Maybe 1) but in Kris's case I'd be very surprised if it was 2) or 3)
My view is that Matton had it easy when Loeb was in the team but hasn't exactly demonstrated much brilliance since the favoured one's retirement.
Matton was not the boss when Loeb was there. But certainly, he is not a stong as Quesnel at the time. It seems to me as if the drivers know what they want, but the team is unable to deliver. If the car is undrivable to a point where its the main contributing factor is going off (both Meeke and Breen agreed, but Meeke obviously alot more vocal), then there is some serious setup issues, or maybe under certain conditions the car simply doesnt work. It looks as if is more than just one problems, but a combination of diffs, shocks and a general direction from engineering, which doesnt give any driver, no matter who they are the confidence to deliver results, and leads or over driving. The onboards i think confirm that.
Scuse me - It was Matton who replaced Quesnel when Loeb threw his doll out of the pram regarding Ogier. Wiki quote - Yves Matton was appointed Citroën Racing Team Principal on 5 January 2012,taking over from Olivier Quesnel. He was tasked by Frédéric Banzet, CEO of the Citroën Brand, with preparing effectively for the post-Sébastien Loeb era. Whilst the French ace contested his last full WRC season, plans to compete in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) were considered.Quote:
Originally Posted by wrc2017
Rumors of Quesnel’s departure persisted from the summer onward, with suggestions that Loeb’s decision to extend his Citroën deal came with the proviso that the team replace Quesnel
So keep Loeb happy and find us a new team of drivers - Ultimately he's been a failure
My mistake, but you or me could have stepped in at that stage and run the team with the same results with Loeb driving.
i don't want to be too quick to cast an opinion on the whole C3 car at the moment. i suspect we will have to wait and see how it works on the upcoming rallies. However, the team (drivers, co-drivers, engineers, workshop, management, etc) would have been working on this car since last year, testing, collecting data, analyzing, etc. There are 3 test driver units that would have been giving their input to assist with the C3's continued development, plus Kris would have had plenty of experience being a test driver from other projects. They all seemed happy when speaking of the C3 in prior interviews (unless it was just for positive publicity and it did not represent what they actually felt??)..Therefore, how can all of a sudden the same car be undriveable when it supposedly should have been built around all that initial input, especially from the drivers?---did the engineers, ignore this information?? They would have tested this car against the proven DS3 for comparative purposes on the same test locations too, giving some indications of noted improvements and areas to be improved.
so as some have suggested, may be the C3 wasn't set up for Monte Carlo and/or Sweden , but then only Kris did both events and Breen/Lefebvre did one a piece. So, let's see what the other events show up on the more familiar surfaces. Citroen has been making championship winning rally cars for a long time (plus having a top driver helped), so in theory the car should be "fixable" and driveable.
As much as we like drivers to speak their minds and have a personality during interviews, they still work for a company and may need to sometimes choose their words carefully to avoid any issues with management/PR---especially when new to the team or not having substantial results. So, flaming the car in public will not do you any favors when you also don't get the car to the end of a rally via driver induced mistakes. When the car is not at its best and you blame the car, then you may have a justifiable reason and gather support that should hopefully lead to improvements. However, depending on your management hierarchy/personality, when the car is deemed to be better/best and you make mistakes/crash, then there is no justifiable reason, and some top officials tend to have long memories, so its a road to tread cautiously.
i really wish its an easy fix and wish Kris, Breen, Lefebvre and the Citroen team the best,,,,as this can only make the season better with all the manufacturers being on some level competitive.
How Citroen lost both Ogier and Neuville by hanging on Loeb for too long has never been properly documented.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
We're used to that ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Arwel Davies
Joking aside, I actually made a comment to my Dad during Monte that Neuville was super quick but it was only a matter of time before he binned it. He was going too quick for things to be that smooth for the whole event!