Two-time world rally champion Marcus Gronholm believes Kalle Rovanpera has all the skills to win this year's WRC crown and end Finland's title drought.
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Gronholm is the last Finn to win the WRC title after claiming his second world crown 20 years ago, in 2002, driving for the factory Peugeot operation.
Since then, the WRC has been largely dominated by Sebastien Loeb (2004-2012) and Sebastien Ogier (2013-2018, 2020-2021).
The French duo have won 17 titles between them with Petter Solberg (2003) and Ott Tanak (2019) the only other drivers to have won championships since Gronholm's 2002 success.
Led by new star, Rovanpera, Finland remains a hotbed for the WRC, built from a rich history that has seen the nation produce seven world champions; notably Markku Alen (1978), Ari Vatanen (1981), Hannu Mikkola (1983), Timo Salonen (1985), Juha Kankkunen (1986-1987, 1991, 1993), Tommi Makinen (1996-1999) and Gronholm (2000, 2002).
The rise of Rovanpera has not gone unnoticed by Finland's rallying royalty, with Gronholm believing that if Rovanpera continues his strong start to the season, he is favourite to win the 2022 title.
Toyota's Rovanpera holds a 46-point lead in the championship over Hyundai's Thierry Neuville after winning the last three WRC event in Sweden, Croatia and Portugal.
"He is very, very good," Gronholm told Motorsport.com when asked for his thoughts on Rovanpera's recent success.
"He is ready to win the championship I think if he continues the way he has started the season, no question. When he is under pressure he is fast and incredible, he is good.
"It must be something between the ears, of course he is a good driver," when asked to pinpoint why Rovanpera is enjoying such strong form. "He has learned since he was a small kid and he has had a lot of mileage already, but mentally he is very good.
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"It has been 20 years since I won and since then it has been nearly only Frenchmen who have won the title, so now it is time to take it back to Finland," he smiled.
Gronholm made a return to the WRC service park at Rally Portugal earlier this month to partake in the championship's 50th anniversary season celebrations.
It was an event that featured his long-time rival Loeb, who at 48-years-old, is still competing in selected rallies for M-Sport Ford.
Six years his senior, Gronholm retired from the WRC in 2007 and has only contested three WRC events since, with his last arriving at Rally Sweden in 2019, which was a belated 50th birthday present to himself.
Asked if Loeb's continued success could trigger a comeback the 54-year-old replied: "I'm a bit older than Sebastien but he is still competing.
"He has driven something every year since he stopped rallying full-time, whether that is circuit racing, rallycross, Dakar, so he has been driving, driving, driving. I'm not surprised he is still there.
"No, I'm not coming back."
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World Rally Championship

Kalle Rovanperä

Marcus Grönholm

2022 19. Rally Italia Sardegna

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By Tom Howard

Gronholm believes Rovanpera is ready to win WRC world title

Max Verstappen: A Record-Breaking Journey in Formula 1
Word of his talent preceded his actual racing times, yet, Max Verstappen has emerged as one of the most dynamic and successful drivers in Formula 1, showcasing a blend of skill, precision, and relentless determination. Since his debut, Verstappen has consistently pushed the boundaries of what is possible on the track, amassing an impressive array of records and statistics that underline his status as one of the sport&rsquo;s greatest talents.
 Early Career and Rapid Rise Max Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at the tender age of 17, driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso. This debut made him the youngest driver to ever compete in a Formula 1 race, a testament to his precocious talent and the faith placed in him by his team. His early performances were marked by a fearless driving style and a natural aptitude for racing, quickly earning him a reputation as a future star.
 Youngest Race Winner One of Verstappen&rsquo;s most notable achievements came in 2016 when he secured his first Grand Prix victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. At just 18 years and 228 days old, he became the youngest race winner in Formula 1 history, breaking the previous record held by Sebastian Vettel. This victory not only highlighted his raw talent but also his ability to handle pressure and compete against more experienced drivers.
 Consistent Podium Finisher Since his first win, Verstappen has been a consistent presence on the podium. As of 2024, he has accumulated over 90 podium finishes, a remarkable feat considering his relatively short career span. His ability to consistently finish in the top three has been a key factor in his success and a testament to his driving skill and the competitiveness of his Red Bull Racing team.
 World Championships Verstappen's crowning achievement came in 2021 when he won his first World Championship in a dramatic and controversial season finale in Abu Dhabi. This victory marked a significant milestone in his career, solidifying his place among the sport&rsquo;s elite. He followed this up with subsequent championships in 2022 and 2023, demonstrating his dominance and ability to maintain peak performance over multiple seasons.
 Pole Positions and Fastest Laps In addition to race wins and podiums, Verstappen has also excelled in securing pole positions and fastest laps. As of 2024, he has secured over 30 pole positions and 25 fastest laps. His qualifying performances have often set the stage for his race-day successes, showcasing his ability to extract maximum performance from his car in a single lap.
Here's a snapshot image of Verstappen's career in numbers
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To see full Max Verstappen Career and Results click <a href="https://motorsportstats.com/driver/max-verstappen/summary/series/fia-formula-one-world-championship">here</a>.&nbsp;
 Record-Breaking Performances
Max Verstappen holds several records in Formula 1, including:
<ul>
<li>Youngest to race in Formula 1 at 17 years and 166 days of age.</li>
<li>Youngest points scorer by finishing seventh at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.</li>
<li>Youngest Grand Prix winner when he won the 2016 Spanish GP.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Most overtakes in an F1 season when in 2016 Verstappen overtook a competitor no less than 78 times.</li>
<li>Most wins in a single season when he accumulated 19 victories in 2023.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Most podiums in a single season with 21 in 2023.</li>
<li>Most consecutive wins in a season 10 consecutive race wins in 2023, breaking the previous record of 9 held by Sebastian Vettel.</li>
<li>Highest points in a single season when he finished 2024 season with a tally of 575 points, representing 92.74% of the maximum possible.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Memorable Races:
<ul>
<li>Brazilian Grand Prix 2016: Verstappen's drive in the wet conditions at Interlagos is often cited as one of the greatest in F1 history. He climbed from 16th to 3rd in just 16 laps, showcasing his exceptional car control and racecraft.</li>
<li>Austrian Grand Prix 2019: Verstappen's victory here was notable for his aggressive yet clean overtake on Charles Leclerc in the closing stages, demonstrating his fearless approach and race-winning instincts.</li>
<li>2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: The race that secured his first World Championship. Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the final lap in a dramatic and highly controversial finish, cementing his place in F1 history.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
A Legacy in the Making Max Verstappen's career is a testament to his extraordinary talent, hard work, and dedication. His achievements at such a young age have already cemented his legacy in Formula 1, and he continues to push the boundaries, setting new records and inspiring the next generation of drivers. As he continues to compete, fans and analysts alike eagerly anticipate what new milestones he will achieve in the coming years. As of the Spanish GP of 2024 (which he won), he has achieved 61 victories at still the tender age of 26 years old. Surely, there are more to come.&nbsp;
 Max Verstappen's stats and records paint the picture of a driver who is not only one of the best of his generation but also one who has the potential to be remembered as one of the greatest in history, if not the very best, of Formula 1. His journey is far from over, and the motorsport world watches with bated breath as he continues to make history on the track.
&nbsp;

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At just 26 years old, the dutchman already holds an impressive array of records, with many more likely to come.

Verstappen's record career won't stop

Toto Wolff insists his Mercedes Formula 1 team is "sticking together" amid comments from Lewis Hamilton that it 'didn't listen' to his input on the 2023 car
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After making rapid progress towards the end of a troubled 2022 campaign, Mercedes was hopeful of closing the gap with Red Bull and Ferrari but instead has found itself further adrift in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes came out of the 2023 season opener as the fourth-fastest team after Hamilton was powerless to resist Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso on his charge to the podium behind both Red Bulls. Team-mate George Russell was similarly beaten to sixth by Lance Stroll.
Having dialed out crippling porpoising issues with help from the raised floor rules for 2023, Mercedes hoped it would finally be able to unearth the full potential of its design philosophy.
But when Bahrain qualifying confirmed that Mercedes had regressed instead, team boss Wolff admitted the Brackley outfit would have to abandon the W14's design concept, saying he "didn't think this package is going to be competitive eventually."
After the race Lewis Hamilton told BBC 5 Live that the team 'didn't' listen' to his input on the 2023 car, saying: "Last year, there were things I told them, I said the issues that are with the car.
"I've driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn't need. And I think it's really about accountability.
"It's about owning up and saying: 'Yeah, you know what? We didn't listen to you. It's not where it used to be and we've got to work.'"
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Despite those hints of frustration from the seven-time world champion, Wolff insisted the team is sticking together and its strong relationship with Hamilton is intact.
"The Lewis situation is you heard him on the radio. He is an integral part of the team, picking the team up and we are all sticking together and I don&rsquo;t think that is going to change just because we had a start that was really bad," Wolff said.
"We have won eight constructors' championships and six drivers&rsquo; championships with him and that relationship holds.&rdquo;
Hamilton's Mercedes deal is running out at the end of the year, but Wolff says he is not yet worried about losing the eight-time world champion.
"As much as being transparent as to how we need to turn the car around, it is not the point to talk about the driver situation in 2024," he replied when asked if he has a plan B in case Hamilton decides to walk away.
"It is far too early, we need to all push in then same direction, the drivers, the engineers, all the management rather than throwing in the towel. We have never done that and we will not do it.&rdquo;
"We just need to really dig deep and deeper than we have every done and provide both drivers with a car they are able to fight with."
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Torger Christian Toto Wolff

Mercedes

Formula One

Lewis Hamilton

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By Filip Cleeren

Wolff: Mercedes F1 "sticking together" amid Hamilton's 'didn't listen' remarks

McLaren technical director James Key says that the team's current problems result from a late change of aerodynamic philosophy triggered by the 2023 Formula 1 rule changes.
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Last summer the teams and the FIA agreed to a rise of 15mm in the floor edge height as part of an attempt to address porpoising.
Having tried the new spec in the wind tunnel, McLaren decided that it would be difficult to recover performance with the 2023 car with the package it was running.
Thus, in September, the team decided to take a different route, one that offered much more potential.
The call was made too late to ready the full new package for Bahrain, which is why the team is instead aiming to make a big leap when it is introduced in Baku.
"Where this happened actually is when we took the 15mm floor step," said Key.
"So we all agreed that as porpoising protection, which was very sensible given at the time last year that was still quite a major issue. It began to improve for everyone as things improved during the year.
"That sounds very small, but these floors are huge and incredibly sensitive. Look at how much downforce it generates, massive. So when we did it on our car, it actually gave us a much bigger loss than anticipated. It seems to have affected different teams in different ways.
"And to a certain extent, it seems to be related to the floor edge geometry that you're running at the time."
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The call was made too late to ready the full new package for Bahrain, which is why the team is instead aiming to make a big leap when it is introduced in Baku.
"Where this happened actually is when we took the 15mm floor step," said Key.
"So we all agreed that as porpoising protection, which was very sensible given at the time last year that was still quite a major issue. It began to improve for everyone as things improved during the year.
"That sounds very small, but these floors are huge and incredibly sensitive. Look at how much downforce it generates, massive. So when we did it on our car, it actually gave us a much bigger loss than anticipated. It seems to have affected different teams in different ways.
"And to a certain extent, it seems to be related to the floor edge geometry that you're running at the time."
"Which is a big change, because they're very big projects, and very complex projects.
"So I think the timing of the reg, and the fact that we took a particularly large hit, and then that it clearly wasn't going to come back easily, meant that we had to change direction quite late."
Key insists that the reason why the team didn't rush to get the complete new package to the first race in Bahrain was because it wanted to ensure that it was fully developed and understood.
"It wasn't like we were dawdling around and thinking what to do, and actually why don't we do this," he said. "It was sort of forced upon us by a recognition that the new regs weren't going to recover with what we knew from last year.
"That led to a completely refreshed and revamped approach to that area of the car. It takes a while to develop these things. We tried to get it for race one, it wasn't mature enough.
"It would have performed a bit better. But with these floors, you've got to maintain stability, good correlation and everything else to guarantee that it's going work, and it was a little bit risky for race one."
Asked by Motorsport.com if it was frustrating to have made the call so late, Key said: "Absolutely, I mean, it is frustrating because, to be honest, the route we're on now seems to be pretty prolific, it's doing what we hoped it would do. There's still some work to do.
"The development rate on that is so much higher than what we had. Had the reg been earlier or had we clocked the fact that actually you need to do a different thing with this four weeks earlier, we wouldn't be talking about it right now, to be honest.
"So it's a bit it's a bit of a shame, but we are where we are, and we're just going to recover from it."
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McLaren

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

By Adam Cooper

How a 15mm difference triggered McLaren's F1 2023 woes

Thierry Neuville clinched a career-defining maiden World Rally Championship title in dramatic circumstances at this weekend’s Rally Japan.Often regarded among the best drivers never to win a WRC title, the Belgian can now lay that claim to rest after he and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe beat Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja to a long-awaited crown.Neuville entered the ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/how-neuvilles-long-and-winding-road-led-to-wrc-glory/10676104/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Thierry Neuville clinched a career-defining maiden World Rally Championship title in dramatic circumstances at this weekend’s Rally Japan.Often regarded among the best drivers never to win a WRC title, the Belgian can now lay that claim to rest after he and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe beat Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja to a long-awaited crown.Neuville entered the ...Keep reading

How Neuville’s long and winding road led to WRC glory

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur says that Charles Leclerc's expletive-laden radio message after the Las Vegas Grand Prix is not an issue, as the Monegasque vented that "being nice fucks me over".Leclerc looked on course to gather an overcut on team-mate Carlos Sainz during the final round of stops, as the Spaniard pleaded his case on the radio for an earlier pitstop.Read Also: Formula ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vasseur-unconcerned-by-leclerc-radio-rage-after-sainzs-vegas-pass/10676090/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur says that Charles Leclerc's expletive-laden radio message after the Las Vegas Grand Prix is not an issue, as the Monegasque vented that "being nice fucks me over".Leclerc looked on course to gather an overcut on team-mate Carlos Sainz during the final round of stops, as the Spaniard pleaded his case on the radio for an earlier pitstop.Read Also:

Formula ...Keep reading

Vasseur unconcerned by Leclerc radio rage after Sainz's Vegas pass

Lando Norris doubted that he would have won the 2024 Formula 1 title even with a perfect season, but was nonetheless proud of McLaren for bringing itself into contention over the season.Norris' dwindling chances of a title came to an end at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, having needed to outscore Max Verstappen by three points to take the fight to the following round in Qatar.Red Bull driver Verstappen ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-perfect-season-wouldnt-have-been-enough-to-beat-verstappen-to-f1-title/10676057/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Lando Norris doubted that he would have won the 2024 Formula 1 title even with a perfect season, but was nonetheless proud of McLaren for bringing itself into contention over the season.Norris' dwindling chances of a title came to an end at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, having needed to outscore Max Verstappen by three points to take the fight to the following round in Qatar.Red Bull driver Verstappen ...Keep reading

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