Andreas Mikkelsen

[wrc2017]

I'm sorry, but you are the one bringing Meeke in this discusson. That's why my reply will answe it. While Meeke wants to shine, Mikkelsen is geting his job more seriously. You can continue implying Mikkelsen is not fast (and that's true), but neither him or Citroen care abot that too much at the moment. It's fare to say that for only 2 events Mikkelsen has been more valuble for the team than Meeke for half a season.
In contrast, Meeke has been focusing on his speed, and criticizing his car over and over. Yes, that's probably the case, but this is something other drivers don't usually do. They accept that they are slow, and get involved in the effort to fix this.
In short, I believe both Mikkelsen and Meeke are experienced and fast drivers, but in current situation with Citroen, it's pointless to compare and judge them.

Mikkelson is driving himself out of a job. If you seriously think his performances were worthy of a full time job offer, i doubt it. Maybe he just cant explain how he likes the car setup? He didnt need to a VW, now he is lost. I think if you ask anyone at Citroen whose input has been more valuation it would not be Mikkelson. You blame Meeke for focusing on speed, and criticising the car... Nobody would listen to Meeke, now everyone knows he was right.. a fair proportion of the blame lies with the car.... because the Handsome one was supposed to win Sardina (becasue of his road position), and finish on the podium in Poland. Meeke is also at a different stage of his career.. whereby he has 2/3 years left at top, and was promised, and the team convinced him, they had a good car, but inherently its not, well as least not versatile, while Mikkelson, even with more WRC starts, still has 10 years to hang about.

[N.O.T]

Mikkelson....Mikkelson..... Mikkelson....

Do you have some kind of mental disability ??

[wrc2017]

NOT really

Do you have some kind of mental disability ??

[seb_sh]

Nobody would listen to Meeke, now everyone knows he was right.. a fair proportion of the blame lies with the car....

I don't know where you're getting this. Most people here have agreed that the blame is split for Citroen's situation. You and a couple others keep bringing the same thing up.

Also, you're not going to be respected here if you can't be bothered to write the correct names of the drivers.

[Marcco]

I think this Mikkelsen issue is showing us how tight is actually the difference between perfoming well and not performing well in WRC.
Andreas Mikkelsen is one of the fastest drivers in the field. No doubts. He has won rallies and set fastest times. He is fast and consistent.

Btw I also agree there are not many excuses in what he is doing in citroen.

I think that actually a driver is not just fast or good. A driver can be the best in the universe under certain circumstances, and the worst under others. Everyone of them is different. Just look at Neuville. He was crashing all the time since one year ago. Then Hyundai changed his engineer and he has became WDC material.
Yes they also made the new i20 which should be better than other cars but how come that Paddon and Sordo are not 2nd and 3rd in the WDC ranking?

Look at Ogier. We all agree he is the best but he is struggling a lil bit with Fiesta while his teammate Tanak is doing his best season so far with the same car.
The fact is that even a little change can revolutionize the situation.

So we can continue to argue if Mikkelsen is good driver or not. Or we can analyze a little bit deeper and try to understand what is making him slower than usual with Citroen.

Agree 100%.

[racerx1979]

Great post from Marcco. It's what makes this year so very interesting and exciting. It's nice to see new machinery and see how everyone is evolving with the new cars and teams. Most of my friends and me included lost interest in the WRC, but this year has been extremely entertaining. I'm trying to get everyone back on board. I had a few friends who were die-hard fans at one point and had no clue about the 2017 beasts sine they went completely offline when it came to rally.

[mknight]

Mikkelsen in radio interview today, nothing new just pointing out:

- he had contract with VW until the end of 2019 (one can understand he wasn't in a hurry for results then)
- his Citroen contract ended this Sunday
- "Looking pretty good" for next year, is in talks with different manufacturers (not clear if this excludes M-sport)
- also mentions there are some new and "promising" drivers (potentially competing for seats), but says it's always like that

[EstWRC]

if the teams expand to 4 cars then i can see a place for him in any team except M-sport maybe but i highly doubt this 4 car system. i still think he will be in Citroen because Citroen need good drivers and all Hyundai drivers have contracts to the end of 2018 and Hyundai doesnt seem to be a team who dumps their drivers. Of course Toyota is also a possibility but i doubt it because they didnt take him last year.

[jparker]

I think Hyundai has no chance next year with current lineup. In such situations contract doesn't mean anything.

[AnttiL]

I think Hyundai has no chance next year with current lineup. In such situations contract doesn't mean anything.

On paper, they had the best lineup for this year with the only team where all drivers had won rallies vs. other teams had only one rally winner. I think it's more down to their technical problems than the drivers.