WRC's cash/talent dilemma

A decade ago, the unthinkable happened to Colin McRae - he was dropped by Citroen and left unemployed in the World Rally Championship for 2004.

Just eight years after winning his first world title and just five years after becoming the highest paid rally driver in WRC history, courtesy of a multi-million pound, sport-shaping deal with Ford, the Scot was out. In McRae's final full season, there had been six teams all paying frontline drivers good money. At least 16 drivers could rightly call themselves professionals in 2003.

Admittedly, McRae lost out after a regulation change meant only two nominated cars could score manufacturer points and Citroen took Carlos Sainz instead of the Briton.

McRae did, in fact, come close to landing a 2004 return to Subaru. He tested the Impreza WRC and was ready to put pen to paper alongside then reigning champion Petter Solberg. Then came the budget cuts in Japan, which slashed Prodrive's operating budget. With commitment to Solberg, there was simply no cash to countenance Colin's comeback.

This was the beginning of the downturn and the significant change in shape of the driver market. Instead of McRae, Mikko Hirvonen was signed up, the Finn arriving with a hefty stack of cash from his backer Timo Jouhki.

Nobody bought into Subaru's communication about shifting focus to younger drivers. This was way more simple: McRae cost money, Hirvonen paid.

Hirvonen beat McRae to 2004 Subaru drive © LAT

As the seasons passed, seats became more and more scarce as Peugeot, Subaru, Skoda, Mitsubishi and, most recently, Ford all departed the WRC. And with them went the ability for world-class rally drivers to earn a sensible salary.

Compare that figure of 16 drivers in 2003 with last year, when only three drivers were genuinely being paid for driving World Rally Cars on a regular basis. Fortunately, Volkswagen's arrival has made that number look more acceptable this year.

The upshot of this dilemma is that there simply aren't enough frontline, potentially title-winning drivers to service the best of the seats in 2014.

M-Sport's Malcolm Wilson would rightly point to the commercial reality his team operates in; without income from drivers, the team couldn't continue to operate. And running the Stobart or Munchi's teams in years gone by offered the perfect home for paying drivers to masquerade as manufacturer men.

Contrast that with the perfect world of the French manufacturers, where Citroen and Peugeot could always afford the luxury of bringing on younger drivers. Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier were given semi-works cars for their first full World Rally Car season, while Daniel Carlsson and Cedric Robert benefitted from Peugeot's benevolence. Clearly, not all of the plans came to fruition, but at least it expanded the market for drivers.

Here's a question that cuts to the heart of the problem (assuming that Citroen drops Dani Sordo next season and Mikko Hirvonen heads east to Korea): who do you put in two factory DS3 WRC seats?

Gone are the days when there were there were Juha Kankkunens or Armin Schwarzs ready to be snapped up. You could argue that Schwarz outstayed his fiscal worth by a couple of years, but it was testament to a buoyant market slanted in favour of drivers.

Paying drivers have completely undermined that market and turned it in favour of the teams, who have often been forced to take the wallet over the potential win.

M-Sport boss Wilson needs funded drivers © LAT

Fact is, we're short on the best of the best at the front of the field. And the only way to build that talent pool back up to where it was is by manufacturers investing in young drivers in years gone by.

While the perfect world makes it easy to berate Wilson's commercial approach to this season, it's worth remembering that when his cars were decorated in Ford and Martini colours, he shouldered plenty of unfunded driver development with drivers like Petter Solberg, Francois Duval and Markko Martin.

VW has recognised this issue and signed Andreas Mikkelsen in an effort to future-proof itself and it's vital Hyundai does the same thing.

It would be nice if Citroen handed a number-two DS3 to a youngster, if only on a part-time basis, and if Qatar continues to back M-Sport, then hopefully Wilson can keep Neuville and fulfil his task in restocking the supply chain of future champions.

While it's undoubtedly a question cutting one's cloth, buying in mid-grid talent has shown itself to be a short-term solution that continues to devalue our sport.

Who goes where for WRC 2014

Likely scenarios for who'll drive for whom next season when the 'big three' - Citroen, Ford and VW - becomes four with the arrival of Hyundai.

Citroen

Dani Sordo remains on Yves Matton's list courtesy of his German win, but the Spaniard would surely only be a bit-part player - having struggled so badly to come to terms with the DS3 on gravel this year.

Kris Meeke is also on the list. And so to Mikko Hirvonen. He was in Paris last Friday talking through his options. The Finn told AUTOSPORT he has offers and he's in no rush to finalise his 2014.

Hirvonen has shown himself to be an exceptional number-two, but he struggled both at Citroen and Ford to lead. So if he moves to number two, who's number one? Sebastien Loeb? Forget it.

Sordo's future is still in doubt despite his first win

Thierry Neuville is the favoured one in Versailles. If Robert Kubica stays in rallying next season, we can expect him to drive a factory car every now and then. Khalid Al-Qassimi will drive an Abu Dhabi car on selected rounds.

M-Sport

It's a question of chicken and egg in Cumbria. Nasser Al-Attiyah's Qatar backing is largely dependent on Thierry Neuville re-signing for next season and Neuville's signature will come as soon as the cheque from the Middle East is cashed...

Mid-season Neuville was making all the right noises about staying where he is, the podiums flowing his way have brought with them offers of employment elsewhere. It's likely the Belgian has the pick of M-Sport, Citroen and Hyundai and he's in no hurry to make any decisions.

Mads Ostberg will probably stay at M-Sport. Evgeny Novikov won't, unless his backer comes up with some more readies.

Malcolm Wilson has been very impressed with what Elfyn Evans has done this season and there's hope the young Welshman might have a role to play. And, once the Dakar Rally is done with, Al-Attiyah is hoping to run the rest of the rounds from Sweden onwards.

Hyundai

There was strong speculation in Australia that Mikko Hirvonen has already signed a pre-contract agreement with the Koreans, but the Finn has so far laughed that off.

Per-Gunnar Andersson is also being talked about, with the two-time Junior champion still capable of competing at the front. Otherwise, Chris Atkinson is well placed with plenty of experience, albeit not all of it recent.

Atko would also score well courtesy of his strong Hyundai Australia links - the Oz market is a big one for Hyundai. Atkinson's fellow 2013 testers Juho Hanninen and Bryan Bouffier must also be in with a shout, possibly on a split part-programme in a second i20 WRC.

As a longer shot, 2003 world champion Petter Solberg for a return? Hyundai could do worse...

Volkswagen

Latvala is expected to keep his drive © LAT

With the silly season in full swing, there was talk that Jari-Matti Latvala is under pressure to keep his seat.

Team principal Jost Capito laughed off such a suggestion, offering the Finn his full backing - and not in the same way football managers are offered full backing... No change expected at VW next season.

Sepp Wiegand, the VW Group-contracted German youngster, hasn't shone in quite the way it might have been hoped in a WRC 2 Fabia S2000.

And then there's Esapekka Lappi, Finland's latest superstar, who also has a VW deal. We could well see him in a Polo WRC on occasion next year.