RIVAL 1: HYUNDAI

Sebastien Loeb’s arrival at Hyundai: sublime strategic move that will finally unlock title-winning potential from the Frankfurt-based squad or desperate attempt to buy a result that might help shore-up a one-man band? Time will tell.

Let’s be honest, Loeb’s not going to be slow. His ninth title might have been six years ago, but his 79th World Rally Championship win was in October. He knows what’s needed. And he knows where he fits into the picture. Having bossed the Citroen team for a decade, the world’s fastest Alsatian talks happily – and surprisingly contentedly – about his new life as a member of the support staff.

There are, however, more than a few in blue and orange who’ll be hoping his memory stretches to the season’s far side, when a part-programme leaves him sitting pretty in a favourable place on the road and with chances aplenty to win on the loose.

Loeb’s place in the team comes at the expense of Hayden Paddon, a move met with mixed reviews. There are plenty in the service park who would have argued for keeping Paddon and dropping the disappointing Andreas Mikkelsen or Dani Sordo, after one of Paddon’s best years.

What’s similarly concerning about Hyundai is an apparent lack of ambition to make its car work everywhere. Finland remains the i20 Coupe WRC’S nemesis – and guess which round neither Loeb or Sordo wanted to do this year… Hence Hyundai’s decision to offer Paddon a single outing in Jyvaskyla.

Talk to Thierry Neuville about his trip to the season’s fastest gravel and his eyes widen ever so slightly: “We know we have been missing pace for years, we just need to be consistent over the whole weekend and benefit from mistakes from the guys in front of us.”

It’s that kind of thing that is concerning about the Hyundai attack this year. How can that be the answer for a team with title aspirations?