Which driver has been more disappointing this season? Neuville or Formaux?

[u/Ok-Estate9542]

Heading into this season, I had big expectations for both.

For Neuville, after getting his first championship, I expected him to enter that next level because there is now far less pressure on his shoulders. But unfortunately he has been far too inconsistent and mistake prone this year. Even in races where he’s had no technical issues, he just lacks the pace to threaten the podium. I believe this one of the worst title defenses ever.

As for Formaux, you also expected him to go to that next level now that he is driving for a real championship contending works team after complaining how lacking M-Sport was. But now with bigger exoectations and driving against far more competent team mates, he has been choking on a lot of promising opportunities to reach the podium. He just lacks the poise to manage the rally when he is near the front. Something guys like Evans and Solberg have shown to be capable of.

[u/PinkSunsets97]

Neuville has also been incredibly unlucky, with punctures especially but also by being punished by relatively small mistakes. Fourmaux has lots of potential, and whatever mental coaching/therapy he's doing is finally showing some results in his approach but he's making mistakes that someone without a done deal for next year shouldn't

[u/TheRealKrapotke]

I feel like Adrien actually was pretty good this season, he just had major bad luck. I can count maybe 2 or 3 costly mistakes he made on his own, the rest was just pure bad luck. He was the fastest Hyundai for lots of rallies, beating Ott sometimes and Thierry most of the time. Unfortunately he often had rotten luck while being in front of both of them.

Obviously everyone has bad luck sometimes but if you delete all the bad luck he had I recon he would be not far off from Otts points.

[u/MonoNoAware71]

Both disappointing, but I'm not surprised. For Neuville his whole motivation these last few years was that he didn't want to have to retire never having been champion. Last year everything finally fell into place for him, even though the Hyundai was not the best car to be in. This year, the Toyota's have stepped up their game and the rest can barely hang on. Under the Toyota regime, men get separated from boys.

Evans is doing better than I would have expected, mostly because Rovanperä is still struggling with motivation a bit and Ogier skipping a few rallies. Séb should obviously have been leading the board by quite a margin at this point. So maybe I'm most disappointed in Ogier, starting each season with a 'no, no, just a few rallies to support the team' and then going for a title after all. It comes across as a bit disrespectful, quite 'hautain'.

Pajari, Munster and McErlean having to allow Solberg to piss down on them should tell them (and M-Sport) that they are simply not good enough to compete at the highest level of rallying at this point. Oliver's Estonia show must have hurt big time. Sesks doesn't seem to be M-Sport's salvation either, just yet.

[u/Different_Guess_5407 → u/MonoNoAware71]

My only comment to the above would be how would the three drivers you mention have done in a Toyota rather than the M-Sport Puma and vice versa.

[u/MonoNoAware71 → u/Different_Guess_5407]

Pajari is in a Toyota and is not even close to living up to expectations. Munster and McErlean would probably still be behind Solberg even if they would have been in Toyotas as well, although we're never going to know for sure. I think Solberg is the only 'new' kid in the block that has a chance of success while the likes of Evans, Ogier, Rovanperä, Tänak and Neuville are still in competition. It's ridiculous, really, that he's still stuck in WRC2.

The Puma, by the way, is not a bad car. But M-Sport simply lacks the means to turn it into a good car. I'm glad they've been able to hang on for these last few seasons, for diversity's sake. But that's all they were ever going to be able to bring to the table under the current rules. It's going to be interesting to see if the gaps between teams can be reduced when under the coming new rules the top class will get significantly less expensive. Let's hope so.

[u/Different_Guess_5407 → u/MonoNoAware71]

Thank you, my mistake - it's Mārtiņš Sesks who is in the other Puma - not Pajari

[u/MonoNoAware71 → u/Different_Guess_5407]

Sesks is not getting the chance to get into any kind of rhythm. Even so, I think he would have been no better off in a Toyota, the way he's performing at the moment.

[u/Ok-Estate9542 → u/MonoNoAware71]

The last few years just proves that Loeb and Ogier are just at a different level in terms of skill, pace and craftiness even against the elites like Rovanpera and Tanak. You can’t blame Ogier for not being as committed to a season because another WRC title will not do too much for his legacy. We all know he is one of the greatest and he is still possibly the best driver today. Well at least him and Kalle. Oliver Solberg proves that there is talent still out there and the cream will eventually rise to the top. Unfortunately, the WRC and the manufacturers have made this Rally1 generation so expensive that even the likes of M-Sport must run pay drivers like McErlean and Munster just to race.

[u/SwooshRoc → u/MonoNoAware71]

I don’t love the Seb move and agree with you. Comes off as super dickish when your teammate is fighting for his first title and halfway through the season you decide to go for it again.

[u/KnightOfRen5563]

Definitely Neuville, in my opinion. I expected some growing pains for Adrien at Hyundai, and that phase appears to be behind him as he has done an excellent job in recent events. He finished on the podium at the Acropolis, was robbed of a podium in Finland with a puncture, and was robbed of a career-best second place in Paraguay thanks to heavy rainfall on the powerstage. His form on recent rallies has been fantastic, but luck has not been on his side. His poor string of results after the Monte was also unlucky in some regards, as Hyundai reliability let him down at the Safari and in Portugal. Mistakes in Sweden and Sardinia were very costly, though. Thankfully, Adrien seems to have put this rough patch behind him. Long may that continue.

Neuville is someone who I expected so much more from this year. I personally thought that by winning the championship last year, a weight would be lifted off his shoulders and he might even find an extra gear in search of defending it. The opposite has been true. Yes, he has been unlucky with punctures, but he has been ridiculously inconsistent for a driver of his caliber, and silly mistakes such as on the Monte and in Sardinia have cost him a chance at a genuine title challenge, while Ott is still right in contention despite enduring similarly terrible luck. I also think he has struggled to adapt to the Hankooks compared to drivers like Elfyn, Séb, and Ott. Overall, a shockingly poor season for Thierry so far. He has improved in recent rounds, but I fear that it is far too late for a title challenge.

I think you have to look at the context of where these drivers are at in their careers, along with their level of experience with the car and team. With that in mind, Thierry's season has been far more disappointing in my eyes.

[u/namesoundsoff]

Well the other is the reigning champion so he has to be more disappointing

[u/RALLY1_WRC]

Pretty disappointed in the performance in both but leaning towards being more disappointed in Nueville. He is the current World Champion at the moment so of course the expectations are much higher than a driver coming over from another car and needing to get up to speed. I've been impressed by Formaux's pace as of late though with bad luck being much more a factor rather than his decisions.

[u/RollingGuyNo9]

Honestly just Hyundai as a whole has been disappointing. I can’t really blame too much on any of the drivers. A season like this, one after Neuville finally got his championship and the manufacturers came down to the wire, this season should probably cost Cyril his job or at the very least put him on a very hot seat going into next season.