Battles for a championship in motorsport between teammates can become quite messy and damage relationships within the team.
The prime example of this is Lewis Hamilton’s fight with Nico Rosberg as teammates at Mercedes, as the two infamously collided several times during their rivalry that was coined ‘The Silver War.’
While Mercedes were able to remain dominant during this period, the friction between Hamilton and Rosberg was clear to see and their disdain for one another continued up until the latter retired from F1 in 2016.
Eight years later in 2024, a not-as-dramatic teammate battle is afoot in the World Rally Championship at Hyundai, but it could become as damaging if one result comes to fruition.
Tiff Needell says it would be ‘unfriendly’ of Ott Tanak to steal the WRC title from Thierry Neuville
Thierry Neuville has been leading the 2024 drivers’ standings since he won the season opener at Monte Carlo. The Belgian has never won a WRC title, having finished seven five times and third three times.
Neuville leads the championship by 29 points heading into the Central European Rally this weekend over his teammate Ott Tanak, who won the 2019 championship.
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Tanak beating Neuville at Rally Chile has given the Estonian a chance to win his second title, and he is looking to take the fight to his teammate in the final two rallies to do just that.
Neuville has stressed that he wants to avoid a ‘internal fight’ for the championship and wrap up his maiden title as soon as possible. These thoughts are echoed by Tiff Needell, who speaking on the Lovecars On The Grid Podcast, highlighted that it would be ‘unfriendly’ of Tanak to snatch the title away from his teammate.
“[The] World Rally Championship has a European round, which they haven’t had before. I think its Germany, Austria and Poland or somewhere, somewhere down there in the middle of Europe,” he said.
“They go through various stages, with a battle between, really the two Hyundais to see if the Belgian, Neuville can finally win his world championship or whether Ott Tanak is going to steal it off him, which would be unfriendly from a teammate.”
Can Thierry Neuville hold back his teammate to win the title?
With 60 points up for grabs and a 29-point gap between the two drivers, all Neuville has to do is beat Tanak at the Central European Rally to confirm the title.
It sounds simple enough, and it would maybe be expected that Hyundai would favour Neuville as he has been leading the championship since the start of the year. However, it seems as if Tanak will be allowed to challenge him in the final two events.
READ MORE: What is standing in the way of Thierry Neuville as he hopes to wrap up maiden WRC title
Neuville will be desperate to secure the title and the added issue of the charging Tanak will place even more pressure on the Belgian to perform, which is exactly what Hyundai do not need right now as they are also under pressure to wrap up the Manufacturers’ Championship.
After their one-two finish in Chile, Toyota have cut Hyundai’s lead down to 17 points as they look to continue the momentum and prevent their rivals from taking all three WRC titles in 2024.