2022 WRC News & Rumours

[mknight]

Neuville is the de-facto Team Principal, and has been for years. Even during the Adamo time. He has more power in who drives and what direction the car is going in than anyone else. He controls what setup the drivers are allowed to use.

Thierry was responsible for pushing out a succession of drivers, including Paddon and Mikkelsen, so if they were to return it would simply be to solidify his position as the lead driver. He wants to keep Ott because Ott is fast and doesn't get involved in the politics side in the team.

For comparable perspective, note that Ogier was directly asked who he wanted as his teammate when signing for Toyota at end of 2019 (besides Rovanpera). Drivers that were available and have at least won a rally before: Latvala, Meeke, Lappi, Mikkelsen, Evans.

He picked Evans, who at that time had pretty much mediocre results with only one win due to DMACK tires. During 2 years in same car at MSport he basically never was any threat to Ogier. While Latvala, Lappi and Mikkelsen all beat Ogier in same car on multiple rallies (Lappi even that same year) and Meeke did it in different car.

The official explanation was that he had good working relationship with Evans.

Imo the simpler is explanation was that Evans did not seem like any threat to Ogier. (As a side note Evans wasn't particularly stable driver at that time, especially his 2018 season was horrible).

I have no idea if any rumors about Neuville are true. But drivers pushing what is best for them even at expense of the team (and openly) is not anything new.