Thierry Neuville Admits Monte Carlo Feeling Crisis

WRC, Sportrik Media - Thierry Neuville has acknowledged that Rally Monte Carlo 2026 was defined by a fundamental lack of driving feeling, describing it as one of the most difficult events he has faced in the World Rally Championship with Hyundai.

Two weeks before the season opener, Neuville had already predicted that his performance would depend entirely on how confident he felt behind the wheel. That prediction proved accurate, but in the worst possible way. The 2024 world champion never found the rhythm required to enjoy the rally or challenge consistently at the front of the timesheets.

From the outside, the natural conclusion was that Hyundai’s tarmac performance still lags behind its rivals. Team-mate Adrien Fourmaux managed to win two stages, but Toyota claimed 13, underlining the scale of the deficit on asphalt.

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Neuville ultimately finished round one more than 10 minutes behind the winner, reinforcing the perception that Hyundai remains on the back foot at Monte Carlo. However, Neuville stressed that car performance alone does not explain his struggles.

Car performance obviously wasn’t the best, that’s for sure, and that’s confirmed.

According to Neuville, the more alarming issue was his inability to build the confidence needed to drive aggressively, a problem he described as more concerning than outright speed.

My biggest concern this weekend was not to get any good feeling to be able to drive fast and attack.
We held back and tried just not to make any mistakes, and still we were able to do mistakes.

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That’s much more worrying than the car performance at the moment.

Those comments carry additional weight given Neuville’s uneven 2025 campaign. While some setbacks were beyond his control, self-inflicted errors also played a role, including moments during Rally Japan where he appeared reluctant to push due to discomfort behind the wheel.

Neuville admitted that Monte Carlo 2026 presented the most extreme conditions he has ever faced. Even runaway rally leader Oliver Solberg was caught out, yet Neuville repeatedly felt more like a passenger than a driver as the weekend unfolded.

There is, however, an important caveat. Neuville believes the issue is highly surface-specific. He won the WRC’s most recent loose-surface round at Rally Saudi Arabia and remains confident heading into Rally Sweden.

Sweden is different.
Last year we had good speed in Sweden.

I’m not concerned about this.
It’s the tarmac events.

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I just don’t get any good feeling.
I try to adapt my driving style, but it doesn’t really work.

Looking ahead, the next tarmac events on the WRC calendar are Rally Croatia from April 9–12, followed two weeks later by Rally Islas Canarias on April 23–26. Both rallies are set to be critical reference points for Hyundai’s asphalt performance.

Clearly, I think we will be much more confident heading into Sweden
than what I have been here this weekend.

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