Please Mikko, something different this time!! (an open letter)

[Hasselhoax]

Mikko
Sweden should've been maybe top three. But this result is far better than a DNF and he will build on it I think.

My thoughts on this
If you were to put Tanak or Bouffier in a manufacturers car we could see the next Loeb. Or they will end up behind some privateer too. It's all about pressure.

It's easy to hit it off one time, in one event. But it seems some can't cope with the extra pressure of beeing in a manufacturers team.

Look at Novikov (to Ford)
Look at Duval (to Citroen)

The list is long. These were just some examples. I'm sure all these guys Tanak, Solberg, Bouffier and Hirvonen are more or less seriously fast. Some of them just need to get their head in the right place. Not competing on every stage with Ogier. Just themselves. Have a bit of fun then the speed comes.

I like to agree with the one who said Mikko has demons in his head which need to be sorted. I don't see how he would have lost his pace just because he's getting older or that he's "finished". There must be more to it.

Problem is that it's these sort of questions that probably run through his head.

One like Ogier hasn't had a really bad rally for long (and he should have credit for that) and he of course has 100 % self confidence. He drives without pressure. If he has a few bad rallys in a row we could see the same thing from him. The moment you start to have mind demons it all goes south.

Look at Grosjean in F1. He almost certainly thought "must not crash in start with a former WDC for the 3rd time in a row".
What happened?

Maybe it would be good for Mikko to step down from M sport and run a privateer car (like Petter did). I think he would be in front of the M sport guys. Then confidence would return.

Just my very personal opinion. If I'm later proven wrong then so be it. I like Hirvonen, think he's a top bloke as are many of the drivers in WRC. I wish him well and it's boring when it becomes a french affair again. Don't get me wrong - the two french have my fullest respect for what they have done. It's mind blowing.

OT
Maybe all the best of the rest need to change their driving style. Ogier and Loeb goes fast but with their style they have a bit of marginal. I feel some push too hard (JML, Mads, Neuville, Hirvonen) and it looks quick but they lose time. Maybe not much but it all adds up in the end?

[Franky]

I think Mikko's case is the classical big-crash-either-breaks-you-or-makes-you-faster scenario. The Finland crash broke him.

[Hasselhoax]

Never thought of that. Could be...

[COD]

what more would someone else achieve ? who could have stopped the greatest of all times ? NONE

Hirvonen just lost his spirit after 2009... it was the end of him as a competitive driver... the only thing i do not like about him is that he quit trying after 2009... maybe he was afraid that he would end up like Gronholm, always trying to beat Loeb and always FAILED.

You missed my point and probably many others. Most of you probably wore diapers back in 2004.

Look back at the results back then and you will understand why he should have never become a regular works driver. He had a few good years thanks to not much cmpetition and lots of testing and time in the car on events. But he has never been blindingy fast and never will be. A good no2 for any team and that is it. Now event that is questionable

[N.O.T]

i am still wearing diapers...whats wrong with diapers ?? they are perfectly fine...

you still need to answer who was better that Hirvonen back in the days he was works driver at ford (in subaru he was rubbish)..and what could they achieve more ?

[dimviii]

can t understand all this about Mikko.
Simply his times are gone.
There are no drivers that can stay at their pik performance for so many years.Mikko had his chances,lost them,years passed,finished.
Its very natural,thats happens to all drivers.Ok Loeb was at pik for 10 years,but this is the exception and not the rule.

[dimviii]

But he has never been blindingy fast and never will be. A good no2 for any team and that is it.

for few years was fast and reliable.I mean the years who was close with Master.

[COD]

i am still wearing diapers...whats wrong with diapers ?? they are perfectly fine...

you still need to answer who was better that Hirvonen back in the days he was works driver at ford (in subaru he was rubbish)..and what could they achieve more ?

Diaper are good no question there.

My point was, at the time he was with Subaru, he was crap. And at THAT time, there were a lot more talented who should have gotten the Ford seAt instead of Mikko. Mikko got it and those others were forgotten, that is why There was only Loed and Mikko was the best of the rest. Had it gone other way, there might have been somebody other that Grönholm who could have challenged Loeb on speed.

[stefanvv]

The problem is not his speed I think, his motivation to fight seems to be gone, and it's not from 2010 onwards, it began in 2013 I think. Probably he thought he can get an easy title, but it was very wrong... Otherwise he is still young for retirement I believe, how much it is, around 35?

[A.F.F.]

I have said it many times and I 100% agree with Franky. Mikko got cautious after that crash, was it 2010? And I still think Tommi had the same thing at Argentina. It's understandable if you say; Fcuk this I'm done, when you roll about ten times with your car. Some bonesheads never learnt that like Ari, Colin or Marcus. But we are all different.