Hayden Paddon

[ArtooDetoo]

I just wanted to point out to all the enthusiastic result-oriented people that their enthusiasm maybe was just too much... But that together with them I share the opinion (and the hope) that Paddon could be a threat (in the future).

I guess the difference between us here is that your view is more cautious. The "enthusiastic result-oriented people", in their defence, have also been witness to Paddon's rapid and consistent improvement, even on his least-favoured surface, tarmac. That rate of improvement, should it continue, makes it easy to feel optimistic about his championship potential. I'm sure you'll agree that as yet there's no sign of a plateau in his performance overall, despite the occasional stumble.

Luckily Paddon himself agree with me.

That's a good point - Hayden is by character a modest guy, something that is quite unusual among high-achieving risk-takers like race drivers. So he always expresses himself in character, but one thing that he repeats regularly is that he isn't in the WRC to make up the numbers, and he believes that he will one day be World Champion. That's the total focus of his efforts.

The clear difference between you and me is that I believe he'll succeed, based on what he's done and continues to do, whereas you aren't convinced.

There's another conversation to be had about how Hayden has traveled compared to Mikkelsen and Meeke, and where they'll be relative to each other by the end of next season.

Thanks for the comments.