Quote Originally Posted by ggg377 View Post
As far as Mia, that is the problem that most insiders point to. You can't brush off Lappi's leaving like that either. His second half of 2018 was brilliant and yet he left it behind for an underperforming C3. I don't think Ogier will dive head first into that mess either. Lappi is his teammate and Tänak is his friend. He can ask TGR anything in the negotiations, because he has options and they don't. TGR had one job - keep Tänak and they bombed it.
Lappi is hardly a clear loss for Toyota and Makinen was never sold on him anyway, you could tell that by the dynamic between the two and the fact that Lappi didn't feel wanted/loved, so left for Citroen. Makinen speaks about how Kalle was ahead of Lappi and Suninen in 2016 when it came to testing the Yaris on a test stage in Finland, it's clear Kalle has been earmarked to be the chosen one at Toyota long term.

Lappi hasn't improved and you could also say gone backwards in some cases since his breakthrough season. The fact Toyota didnt keep him isn't a reflection on anything rotten at the team, it's just a consequence of the driver market and Tommi liking other drivers better (Meeke short term, Kalle long term, and Tanak being the main man in the team in 2018/19).

Drivers have been treated worse at other teams you could say, Meeke at Citroen, Paddon and Mikkelsen at Hyundai etc. The WRC is cut throat for everyone who is involved, whether its drivers or team personnel.

Lappi also agreed to go to Citroen a few months before Ogier did, he knew he couldn't establish himself at Toyota with Tanak dominating (and then Kalle coming in future), and at Citroen it looked like he could move to a team who wanted him more and where he could make it his own. Doubling/ tripling his money helped too.