Quote Originally Posted by Tarmop View Post
Hyundai has never been good in Finland, true (Paddon could have gone faster this year though and now he is sacked). Then again, nothing else you say can explain why one of their main drivers is the last WRC on those rounds. Like Neuville has pointed out several times, he didn`t have his wingmen.
Yeah Paddon was like around 4th fastest in Finland and on a pretty good pace considering his role was to collect pts, but generally they have struggled.
Neuville and Sordo were happy with the car in Spain after the changes had been made, especially in the dry conditions. Even after the changes had been made for that event Mikkelsen was embarrassingly slow in Spain. Beaten by R5s on a full length stage is tragic.

When you look at their team, Paddon and Sordo did their job this year. It was Mikkelsen who was the disappointment. Light years behind Thierry in every department and barely scraped ahead of his team mates in the championship, despite them only doing half seasons.

So clearly Mikkelsen was a major issue this year as part of the line-up. He's not a bad driver clearly, but he had a nightmare season and with a better #2 (or a driver who could deliver in the car) Hyundai would've been much better placed to win a title or two. Even with the small deficiencies in the car.

Mikkelsen has ofcourse a few mechanical failures to point to which have to be taken into consideration that cost him pts, as well as it being his first year in the car. But he was the one who underperformed in the team considering the expectations on him, and the expectations he had on himself. Which was to try and challenge for the title. It's why he got the big contract and Paddon and Sordo got benched to give him the full season.

Next season is the biggest of his career. Hopefully they've sorted out any of the politics within the team, tailored the car more to his liking and Mikkelsen himself regains his mojo.