Former Haas F1 team principal Günther Steiner has followed the current state of the World Rally Championship with a heavy heart. According to him, the WRC is nowadays far too boring to follow.
“I wish it would go back like it was in the 80s and 90s. It was a big, great sport – followed by the media and everything,” Steiner stated bluntly in an interview with Rallying UK.
According to Steiner, the sport needs more personalities. He looked back wistfully on the era when Finnish drivers dominated the World Rally Championship. Steiner believes the Finns gave a lot to the sport.
“At the moment, some of the drivers are just happy to drive a car and are not engaging anymore with the fans and the audience more than they need to. I think everybody needs to stand up and say – ‘I will add something to get us out there’. Some will succeed, some will not succeed – but I think that is the biggest thing that’s missing,” Steiner criticised.
“I think the biggest thing, what we need to go back is to have big personalities in it. You know, if you remember the good old days, all these Finnish drivers – they were big personalities and they made the headlines,” Steiner continued.
However, Steiner admits that the World Rally Championship faces challenges compared to Formula One, particularly when it comes to making the sport television-friendly.
“To prepare rallying for TV is not easy. But there must be a possibility with the technology, which exists now to do this,” he insisted.
Steiner says he still holds rally drivers in high regard. He emphasises that rally driving requires more natural talent than Formula One or other circuit-based motorsports.
“I think rally cars are still cool cars – and the drivers are very good. In circuit racing, you can learn a lot in circuit racing – but in rallying if you’re good, you’ve got talent. You cannot learn what these guys do,” Steiner pointed out.
This is not a new topic. The World Rally Championship has faced similar criticism before. This season, the emergence of personalities has been further hindered by the actions of the FIA. The FIA has taken a strict stance on what drivers are allowed and not allowed to say. Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was fined €10,000 at this season’s Rally Sweden for swearing in a finish-line interview.
Steiner openly admits that he has no concrete proposal on how to restore the WRC to its former glory.
“I wish it would go back, but I don’t have the magic solution, but I think something can be done,” Steiner stressed.
