[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[mknight]

It's always difficult to weight last few (one?) rally vs last 1/2 year, year, 2 years...

Some people (and managers) seem to weight the last 1-2 rallies a lot, while others (like Wilson and seemingly also Tommi) are more about the long-term. Obviously there is no perfect answer on what is better.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meeke is the one with the biggest doubt.

He has again shown he cant be trusted to deliver good points for the team and even the odd win looks beyond him now.

Finland could have been the final straw.

[EstWRC]

i read yesterday from finnish media that Latvalas salary is as much as Tänaks

sounds quite crazy for me if it is true.

[Rallyper]

i read yesterday from finnish media that Latvalas salary is as much as Tänaks

sounds quite crazy for me if it is true.

You must see the whole picture. Then you´ll understand.

Next year is another year, though...

[TypeR]

i read yesterday from finnish media that Latvalas salary is as much as Tänaks

sounds quite crazy for me if it is true.

Actually can be true.. Latvala made the contract based on his experiences and value and etc.. Ott made his contract in mid 2017, when he was not yet that valuable and fast.. I bet from next year he will be the most paid man in WRC. Rumours are even around 5-7mil per year..

[EstWRC]

I understand this when he made the contract in 2016 coming from VW, at that time he was considered maybe the second best besides Ogier.

But didnt they renew the contract for this year?

[TypeR]

They did renew it, but I assume, he wanted same or more money

[Allez Andruet]

But didnt they renew the contract for this year?

I think (couldn't find any news to confirm it though by quick search) the deal Latvala made with TGR in December 2016 was for 2+1 years. Most likely the terms of that option year have already been defined in that original contract. If it was indeed like that (2+1), then it wouldn't be that big a surprise if Tänak (who made a 2-year deal for 2018/2019) and JML had similar salaries.

[wrc2017]

Hold on, is Meeke not ahead of Latvala (and Lappi) on the standings, and has only 7 months in the car. Latvala is in his 3rd year. Tommi just said yesterday, about Tanak, you need time the car to become 'connected' to your car. Joukki can't say, this or that, about Latvala over Meeke, about an incident that was small, and almost identical, and one driver was more lucky than the other. Its manager talk. Still think Meeke has more upside available than Latvala at Toyota, just needs to tidy up the loose ends. He hasn't destroyed cars like Lappi, Neuville or Evans, it's just small stuff, than can, maybe, be contributed to seat time.

[meh]

Hold on, is Meeke not ahead of Latvala (and Lappi) on the standings, and has only 7 months in the car. Latvala is in his 3rd year. Tommi just said yesterday, about Tanak, you need time the car to become 'connected' to your car. Joukki can't say, this or that, about Latvala over Meeke, about an incident that was small, and almost identical, and one driver was more lucky than the other. Its manager talk. Still think Meeke has more upside available than Latvala at Toyota, just needs to tidy up the loose ends. He hasn't destroyed cars like Lappi, Neuville or Evans, it's just small stuff, than can, maybe, be contributed to seat time.

Can you describe Meeke as team-player?

You should not concentrate on the fact that Latavala was more Lucky than Meeke. To hit that stone, they both ignored Mäkinens instructions to "manage the pace and do not try to match Tänaks pace". They both failed.
The difference comes from next episode. Latvala backed-off, took it to "confortable level" and lost some speed. But this was exactly what team expected. Conclusions made, job well done. Meeke meanwhile.. did another stupid mistake.