Mäkinen: “To perform well, you have to be relaxed, motivated and work”

After a successful 2017 season, you are expected. Is there more pressure?
Not the trick. I have no pressure (laugh). I hope the same goes for the team members. To perform well, you have to be relaxed, motivated and work as hard as possible. Pressure doesn't help. The pressure is on the pilots! They can use it to stay focused and ride “flat out”!

What motivated the recruitment ofOtt Tänak ?
That was the original idea. Juho Hänninen was to carry out the tests and participate in the 2017 season. This was to allow us to improve before welcoming Ott, who I wanted from the start of the project.

Was it easy to convince her?
It was well planned. We were both happy that the plan was going ahead.

After a year in WRC, do you like your job? If I believe the state of the poor cup you are holding in your hands, is something bothering you? You don't seem particularly happy at the moment...
(He then looks at what remains of the cup that he has been tormenting since the beginning of the interview and which is now reduced to pieces of furiously folded cardboard).  I'm not happy with the situation on the Rally from Sweden. There are such conditions. It's the rally, but it's unfair. I can understand the pilots' frustration. Put yourself in the place of Sébastien Ogier. He opened the road all day and he will have to do it again on Saturday, because that's the rule. "Of course we can't do anything about the weather, but there are probably things the organizer can change, like running the historic cars elsewhere or once the WRC is over." »

You are angry ?
It's the rally (he bursts out laughing and ends up getting rid of the cup). What can we do ? I found myself in this situation so many times. I know this feeling of frustration. I'm disappointed.

Find the entire interview in issue 2153 of AUTOhebdo, on sale on newsstands as well asin digital version.