Originally Posted by
mknight
So since basically all 3 drivers have still a (small) chance for title as well as 3 manufacturers I was making a mental list of why each of them should deserve/not deserve it:
Ogier
+ Went back to rally-winning speed after not so good last year
+ Stable and using his head most of the time
+ Clearly not as much factory support as Ford claims
- Total sacrifice of whole team for him
- Sweden PS stage (nobody did that before even though rules were same for quite a while)
- Boring that same person wins all the time
Neuville
+ Impressive first half of the season, specially Sardinia
+ Seems that car is a disadvantage on quite a few rallies (FIN, GB friday, tarmac...)
+ Much improved stability and less mistakes compared with last year
- Comes across as least likable person
Tanak
+ Clearly fastest driver+car combination second half of season
+ Most likable
+ some bad luck
- Toyota helps as the car seems to be fastest in second half (even using JML stagetimes as reference)
- did quite a few small or big mistakes as well and was lucky on occasions
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Personal:
I don't really want Ogier to win cause if he does then in a few years 2018 is remembered as just another season that Ogier won, forgetting the close fight. Out of the other two I have to go with Neuville, cause I rather cheer for the underdog and here as well as quite a few other places 9/10 of the people cheer on Tanak.
Still anyone of those 3 deserves to win.
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Toyota
+ Fastest on just about all surfaces since mid-season
+ Big step in both speed and reliability from last year
- "Unlimited" testing (and lol at their arguments how it's not really "unlimited")
Hyundai
+ Kinda deserve it after loosing it last year mostly on reliability
- Didn't invest time and money for tarmac even though there were signs already a year ago that it was a problem, Neuville+Sordo speed in Corsica and Germany this year relative to last year is telling. (Also they saw this in Corsica and still didn't do anything for Germany)
- Still keep on coming to rallies without good setup (GB friday this year), last year that was common occurrence
- Still no sign of improvement in Finland after how many years?
MSport
+ Can fight in top with seemingly low budget and "weaker" 2nd+3rd driver
- Using all resources on Ogier
- The at times ridiculous use of any small thing to force even the tiniest advantage, Finland Friday and Sunday best examples. They dropped Evans and Sunninen just so that Ogier runs 6th instead of 5th on the road
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Personal:
For me Toyota deserves the manu title, if Hyundai wins it it's ok, but don't feel the need to cheer on them. If MSport wins (extremely unlikely) I'd be quite disappointed. Only thing I am afraid of is that Toyota starts to dominate like Citroen/VW did.