WRC: Did Thierry Neuville deserve the 2021 champion title?

Facts : Winner last weekend of Rally from Catalonia, Thierry Neuville overshadowed the last two candidates for the title, Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. However, the Belgian is no longer in a position to be crowned in a month at Monza, despite his seven podiums and two victories. So, did Thierry Neuville deserve the 2021 champion title?

Yes, by Jérémy Satis

It seems that with ifs, we bottle Paris. Well, let's put Paris, Belgium, and whatever else you want in a bottle, and let's somewhat rewrite the history of this 2021 season. First of all, there is no question here of calling into question the solid performances achieved so far. here by Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans, who will fight for the title in a month at Monza, as in 2020. But I would like to rehabilitate soldier Neuville, third in the championship 45 points behind Ogier and therefore out of the race for the final crown . The Belgian will not be titled, and that is unfortunate, because in my humble opinion he was the strongest and fastest driver of the season. Not to mention his clear victory on the Catalan roads last weekend, the driver Hyundai has been the most consistent in 2021. First of all, no one has more podiums than him this year (7 times). Then, with the exception of the Greek round, the native of Saint-Vith completed all the rallies he finished on the podium!

In fact, if he is out of the running for the final title, it is only because of his two retirements. We will not excuse his exit from the road in Portugal, but on the other hand he has no responsibility for his two abandonments in Kenya (explosion of the shock absorber) and in Finland (radiator problem). In accounting, these two rounds weigh heavily, especially when at the same time, Ogier and Evans have finished all the rallies. I would end my argument with this statistic: if we deducted from everyone the points from the two rallies abandoned by Thierry Neuville, the Belgian would only be eight units behind the Frenchman and even six ahead of the Welshman. He would be more than ever in the fight at Monza, and would have been in a position to seek this title which has always been denied to him. Because it is undoubtedly this year that the five-time vice-world champion deserved it the most!

No, by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez

Impossible to deny it, Thierry Neuville is one of the fastest men on the world stage. We do not win 15 rounds of the WRC, on all possible surfaces (asphalt, dirt and snow) by chance! But the Belgian doesn't only have qualities. To become a world rally champion, it's not enough to show incredible speed. The duelists of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans, understood this well, they who never gave up in 11 meetings. For Thierry Neuville, it is different, with two rallies ending abruptly. In Kenya, gossip blamed a pace that was too high to explain a broken suspension, criticism brushed aside by the main party involved. No doubt, however, about the error of an overly optimistic note which sent him into the background on the land of Portugal.

If these zeros are not his responsibility, perhaps we should take a step back and analyze the career of the best Belgian driver in the history of the WRC. The five-time runner-up really had the opportunity to hit the mark from 2017, when Volkswagen withdrew from the competition. Already, a broken suspension had eliminated him in Germany and Catalonia. Missed. Then, in 2018, a slip-up in Wales cost him dearly, when he wanted to make up for it after a breakdown... with a suspension in Turkey. In 2019, Ott Tänak took off as the Hyundai leader went astray (puncture in Germany, crash in Turkey). Finally, in 2020, he went off the road during the first stages of the Monza finale. In short, a mixture of eagerness and not crazy reliability.

Oddly enough, Thierry Neuville could gain more by sometimes slowing down. Historically, it's not always the fastest who wins in the WRC. 20 years ago, Richard Burns won his only crown at the end of a campaign marked by a single success, where Colin McRae and Tommi Mäkinen had been more flamboyant (3 victories)… but more often sent to the heap.