“The attacks on Meeke have been largely unfair”

I’m all for objective criticism. In fact, I think more of it is needed in the World Rally Championship. Now the series’ TV coverage is run by the championship itself, drivers and teams often get away with not being held to account for their performances, outside the pages of MN, of course.

But, incredibly, I thought criticism went too far in Finland. Yes, sorry, I’ve written that much about Germany, I’m going back to Finland to mix things up.

I’ve been the first to criticise some of Kris Meeke’s performances in the past, as any listeners of the Absolute Rally podcast will know. But the grief he received in Finland was outrageous.

You can’t have your cake and eat it. Tommi Makinen was quite happy with his three cars in the top three, and wanted it kept that way. But when Meeke and Latvala hit that rock, they were blamed for ‘forgetting the plan’ and social media made out that the pair were some sort of petulant children, incapable of being beaten by Tanak.

Nonsense. Esapekka Lappi – a previous Finland winner, let’s not forget – had the bit between his teeth. The drivers don’t have splits in the car, and on an event like Finland, no one goes out with the realistic aim of taking double figures out of the next driver, it’s all so close together.

That means it’s all so close together that drivers can’t afford to just throttle back. Maximum attack is necessary. So, Tommi, if you want your 1-2-3 in Finland, you have to risk it. That’s what they did, sometimes you get away with it (like Latvala) and sometimes you don’t (like Meeke). But the criticism of Meeke especially on this occasion was way overboard. Yes he made a mistake, but so did others. It’s rallying and in a battle like that, it happens.

On the Finland criticism, Meeke said: “If you’d have backed off in Finland, you’d be

10th before you’d even blinked. You have to find the rhythm and flow in those stages. I don’t think myself or Jari did anything majorly wrong. There was a massive loose stone which we couldn’t see on the recce. As soon as something like that happens people say ‘why were you chasing Ott’. Ott was chasing us for a day. We were given the brief for a 1-2-3. It’s easy to criticise when you’re stood on the side of the road watching.”

Meeke’s season hasn’t been perfect, a roll in Chile and a podium lost in Finland and Portugal, but a number of punctures have also blighted his campaign.

By all means, criticise Meeke like you would any other driver, but the Finland witch hunt was unfair. Now he’s rebounded in the best way possible with a strong run in Germany. He’s never done Turkey so that’s something new, but he looks like he’s made fourth in the championship his own. You’d have taken that for him at the start of the year, wouldn’t you?