Quote Originally Posted by Rally Power View Post
You’re right, but do you remember seeing Paddon’s fans being objective towards Neuville? I don’t; actually during the Belgium worse times many said that Neuville was finished and Paddon was the new numero uno…

Everyone must realize that WRC drivers are fantastic drivers and all of them deserve our admiration and respect. Ups and downs are normal on their careers, but somehow they all manage to come back. I bet that even Latvala will surprise us with his future achievements!

Btw, top WRC 2 crews also should be praised. Lappi show he can be reliable, besides incredible fast; Evans took his demotion with a pro spirit and Suninen keeps wondering with his precocious champ maturity. They all deserve to get a WRC seat next year. Best luck to them!
I agree with you about most of these things - the one thing that confuses me is this stuff about supporters of Paddon being negative about Neuville. I read this forum plenty and haven't seen this - I see no reason if you are supporting one upcoming Hyundai driver not to support the other. Plus, that'd be particularly stupid considering Neuville's results this year especially. You could maybe have claimed he had no more fight in him 18 months ago but not really since then, and back then Paddon was not in a position to be considered the same level. Can you point me to some comments like that?

Anyway it's one thing to flog guys who have had three or five or ten years at top level and have obviously shown all they can accomplish, it's another to be down on newer drivers who still have room for improvement. Neuville and Paddon both fall in that category I think.

That said, there are not enough factory seats for the number of drivers who are worth a go, and quite a few ready to step up from WRC2, which is a shame, but if they hang on in the support category another year I think 2017 will see some guys drop off/retire/go to WRX. And we will see more strong WRC2 competition.