Hyundai WRT

[GravelBen]

It was a mistake by a mechanic. They changed the complete suspension on Friday evening but 1 mechanic forgot to tighten something. That is why it broke.
So definitely nothing he could do about it...

Really? Thats the first time I've heard that explanation anywhere, did it come from a team source or just rumour? Not saying you're wrong, I might have just missed it but curious as I never heard it anywhere else.

[AnttiL]

Talking about wildcards, that one Swede still isn't under any contract for next year...?

Would Tidemand be an upgrade on Mikkelsen? He would need at least a full season to learn the WRC car and when they drove Skodas, Mikkelsen was clearly faster. And at the same time the team already has a youngster in the development, being invested on...

[dupanton]

Really? Thats the first time I've heard that explanation anywhere, did it come from a team source or just rumour? Not saying you're wrong, I might have just missed it but curious as I never heard it anywhere else.

A team source, 100% reliable

[Allez Andruet]

Would Tidemand be an upgrade on Mikkelsen?

Most definitely not.

Any kind of "guaranteed fix" surely isn't available, but I still think it's possible we'll see some drastic changes. In somewhat similar fashion than we saw earlier this year when Meeke got sacked. Ofcourse Hyundai doesn't have a "Meeke" to put all the blame on, but after five years without a single title, I wouldn't be surprised if something had to change. Will it make the team perform any better? Maybe not. But like in any corporate business, if you're not meeting your targets, you better have a corrective action plan to present to people above you in the organization. It could be close to that kind of situation at Hyundai. Let's see.

[AnttiL]

I think they should just do more testing and try to find settings that work for other drivers than Neuville. It's interesting that Paddon is considered slow on tarmac but maybe he's just slow on tarmac on a Hyundai, like Mikkelsen?

[Zeakiwi]

I imagine the accountants at Hyundai HQ will be looking for places the budget can be trimmed.
A team of village dog drivers? https://youtu.be/chrzpnL1OEM (dogs trained to drive) Rhorl used say he could train a monkey to drive a quattro.
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-hyunda...ets-sales.html

[AL14]

I think they should just do more testing and try to find settings that work for other drivers than Neuville. It's interesting that Paddon is considered slow on tarmac but maybe he's just slow on tarmac on a Hyundai, like Mikkelsen?

Paddon is historically slow on tarmac. It's his biggest limit, I don't know how much margin of improvement he has but not participating on tarmac rallys will not help for sure.
I remember Latvala in his early days was nowhere in the pace on tarmac but in the second part of his career he managed to be competitive, even against Ogier, and win a couple of rallys.
I'm sure that Paddon with a right car, a right mindset and a bit more speed on tarmac is still a threat.
Agree with you about setting the car also to other drivers but we don't really know how much that's really the case, I mean, did they really don't listen to Paddon/Mikkelsen/Sordo and their feedback in tests and on development of the car?

[tommeke_B]

I remember the last time I saw Paddon on tarmac, it was Catalunya 2016. I think his pace was good there, too good to call him "historically slow on tarmac".

[denkimi]

All hyundai needed to do was hire ogier. If you can't beat someone, make him join you.

Imagine a team with ogier, neuville and mikkelsen. They would have the constructors title surely in the bag, and 66% chance on getting the drivers title too.

[Essaj]

All hyundai needed to do was hire ogier. If you can't beat someone, make him join you.

Imagine a team with ogier, neuville and mikkelsen. They would have the constructors title surely in the bag, and 66% chance on getting the drivers title too.

Should have just gotten Tanak aswell just to be sure