r/WRC • u/SalomonXx • 1d ago
Picture / Photo Ott and Seb travelling to Paraguay
Photo credit: Ott Tänak’s Facebook
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u/RagingAlkohoolik 1d ago
I love that the drivers in wrc are all both rivals and also very friendly with eachother, its nice to see
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u/PioliMaldini 1d ago
I’ve been fortunate enough to have been WRC’s guest to a couple of rallies, and it’s all really a big circus. We see the uniforms, and to some extent they are rivals of course, but they all treat each others as colleagues. let’s say for example Hyundai needs a tool, and they don’t have one, the Toyota crew will be happy to loan them theirs.
It makes sense too, during the season they see each other more than their families. And for example, when Citroen left the sport, it was a big hit for the whole paddock. They are really friendly with each other :)
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u/KnightOfRen5563 Ott Tänak 1d ago
Agreed! Ott and Séb's friendship in particular really makes me smile; they are fierce rivals in the cars, but they are simultaneously very close friends and have the utmost respect for each other when the helmet and gloves come off. It's wonderful to see, and the battles between those two are always my favorites.
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u/TheRealKrapotke Craig Breen 1d ago
Not all of them, Ogier was a massive dick to Thierry last year.
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u/heyoneblueveloplease 1d ago
Oh no, Ogier was a massive dick to a well known dick!
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u/TheRealKrapotke Craig Breen 1d ago
That just makes my argument stronger. They aren’t always friendly towards each other.
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u/Pitiful_Seat3894 1d ago
So. There’s one dick. So like does that negate the theory. Or what ! I mean. Andreas mikkelsen was a dick too. But he’s not there anymore.
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u/KnightOfRen5563 Ott Tänak 1d ago
Andreas was a dick? He always came off as a really cool guy to me, did I miss something?
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u/Pitiful_Seat3894 1d ago
You don’t often get to see the realities good or bad with these guys. The social media accounts are well curated to show the right image. Sponsors and that.
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u/KnightOfRen5563 Ott Tänak 1d ago
I think that between stage-end interviews (which are very heat-of-the-moment when the drivers are full of adrenaline and speaking their mind) and content with the drivers from other outlets like DirtFish gives us a decent idea of who they are as people. Andreas has always seemed like a super nice guy; generally very friendly with media and always a good sportsman. He was also very congratulatory towards Thierry last year and was genuinely happy to see him take the championship. From everything I've seen, he seems like a stand-up guy?
I may be wrong or missing something, though. What makes you think he's a dick?
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u/Pitiful_Seat3894 1d ago
That’s all very curated stuff. My first encounter was more from the organisers of the circuit of Ireland rally when he competed in the irc. Nobody really had anything good to say about him. Arrogant type. Switched on in front of of the cameras but otherwise not nice at all.
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u/KnightOfRen5563 Ott Tänak 1d ago
Huh, I've not heard about this side of him before. His time in the IRC was also around fifteen years ago, so I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt that he has matured and become a better person since then. Either way, thanks for the info.
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u/SplatteredEggs Takamoto Katsuta 23h ago
I don’t know about the background around certain drivers being dicks or not but Andreas was likely very congratulatory towards Thierry because they are legitimate best friends even outside of rally.
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u/TheRealKrapotke Craig Breen 1d ago
Yeah I didn’t know about thierry too, always seems nice enough to me
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u/flooki_ Thierry Neuville 14h ago
Yeah, imo the Thierry being a dick narrative is way overblown. To me he seems okay, just very, very competitive. Which likely sets him easily at odds with some other strong personalities. For example, him and Ott seem to be rather distant to each other. But that is also a normal thing. Nobody can be friends with everyone. Especially at work almost everyone has someone they don't "gel with". That doesn't neccessarily make him an asshole though. In the end, it's obviously hard to see how they're really towards others when you can only see the onscreen personalities. But to me he seems friendly enough even to people he seemingly doesn't like. In that regard I find the kind of barely hidden, accusatory ways of Oli Solberg kind of off-putting, even though I really love him for his otherwise very open and enarmouring personality and of course his insane talent.
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u/TheRealKrapotke Craig Breen 6h ago
What did solberg say about thierry? Completely out of the loop on this one.
I just found his reaction to ogiers absolutely rediculous comments last year super professional. Kept it short and didn’t really even address it and was still polite towards everyone. Ogier is also a dick to reporters when he is pissed.
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u/TheRealKrapotke Craig Breen 1d ago
1+1=1?
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u/Pitiful_Seat3894 1d ago
Mikkelsen is no longer in the fold! You seem to be sayin that the op is not telling the truth.
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u/Tight_Employee_8413 1d ago
And it’s normal. They don’t have to like each other, both professionally and personally
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u/Arschgeige42 Lancia Martini Racing 1d ago
Ott is smiling. Must be fake ;)