Starting next season, hybrid units will be phased out, and cars’ power will be reduced. At the same time, a so-called WRC kit will be available for purchase in the Rally2, hoping to intensify competition in the top tier.
However, Neuville remains critical of these changes.
“Why I ask this question is that if we change the regulation [for 2025], it will bring additional costs to the existing manufacturers who are spending millions and millions for more than 10 years,” Neuville states on Motorsport.com’s website.
“They now have to modify the car and, okay, there is the removal of the hybrid – but what is the cost of a hybrid when you have a budget of nearly hundreds of millions of euros? Removing around 15 hybrid kits, which is roughly two million euros per year, where is the difference?” Neuville continues.
The Belgian wished that the current regulations could have been extended for another couple of years to develop new rules thoughtfully for 2027.
“So why not keep something stable until [the end of] 2026 and use this period now to develop something for 2027? Call all the manufacturers and bring them round one table and ask them ‘Who is interested in entering the WRC?'” Neuville reflects.
“Maybe out of 20 you will maybe see seven, and the seven that stay you ask them what they need. The conversation is then about budgets, amount of people, technology, what type of cars you want to promote. That is the question and then from there you start, and you find a common sense regulation that works for everybody.”
Neuville suggests that the wishes of the car manufacturers might not have been fully considered.
“I just find it a bit of a shame that the decisions have gone against what the teams have asked for, and the teams were not really considered in the decision, and also the drivers were not either. With all the feedback we gave, very little has been heard. I have never ever had any contact with the new FIA working group,” Neuville laments.
“I’m not a manufacturer, but I am the driver leading the championship and I have been here many years, so maybe also I can give some feedback on what has changed over the years and what changes have had a more negative impact over the years.”
