Neuville: “WRC 2025 rules? Shameful not to hear from drivers and teams”

The FIA ​​has made very important decisions for the future of the WRC. We are not talking about a new regulation that will come into force in 2 or 3 years, but rather in a few months, in 2025, with the teams competing in the top category of the World Rally Championship forced to immediately put hybrids aside – an element sensationally banned after just 3 years of use – to reduce costs and have less elitist cars, closer to what the Rally2s are today.

A sudden change that caused a stir not only among enthusiasts, but also (if not above all) among professionals. One of the first to stand out to judge what was decided by the FIA ​​and ratified by the World Motorsport Council is the current leader of the WRC Drivers' Championship, Thierry Neuville.

The Belgian from Hyundai Motorsport commented on these changes, stating that he was surprised, like other colleagues. Including teams.

“To be honest it was a surprise to me and many others, that's for sure. I would have preferred something stable until the end of 2026 and to use this period of time to plan well for the future of the WRC, whatever path it intends to take.”

“The question is simple: Who will join the championship in 2025 and 2026 with the regulations we have now, in a transition period that changes practically every year? I don't know.”

“The reason I ask this question is if we change the regulation [per il 2025], this will lead to additional costs for existing builders who are spending millions and millions for more than 10 years. Now they have to modify the car, and removing the hybrid is fine, but what is the cost of a hybrid when you have a budget of almost hundreds of millions of euros. Removing around 15 hybrid kits, equal to around two million euros per year, where is the difference?”.

The Belgian would have preferred to maintain this regulation until the end of 2026 and then give a decisive boost to the WRC, involving various manufacturers to understand the actual interest and decide how to face the future, with what type of car, what type of propulsion, aerodynamics and so on.

“Why not keep something stable until the end of 2026 and use this period to develop something for 2027? Call all the manufacturers, gather them around a table and ask them who is interested in participating in the WRC.”

“Maybe out of 20 you'll see seven, and ask the remaining seven what they need. At that point the conversation is about budget, number of people, technology, what kind of car you want to promote. That's the question and from there it goes part to find a common sense regulation that works for everyone.”

“The creation of a group of promoters within the FIA, the changes to event formats, the return of remote service to be closer to the public and the reduction of hospitality costs, are interesting points because they are changes that make sense. If the promotion is great and the return on investment is great, no one cares how much a WRC car costs.”

At this point, however, Neuville used strong words to criticize those who made decisions without listening to the manufacturers currently involved in the WRC.

“I find it a bit shameful that the decisions went against the requests of the teams, which were not taken into account in the decision and neither were the drivers,” he said.

“With all the feedback we gave, we were listened to very little. I have never had contact with the new FIA working group. I am not a manufacturer, but I am the driver who leads the championship and I have been here for many years, so maybe I can give feedback on what has changed over the years and which changes have had a more negative impact over the years,” concluded Thierry.

Regarding the WRC's 2025 regulatory changes, we recently made an in-depth video with engineer Andrea Adamo, former team principal of Hyundai Motorsport. If you would like to delve deeper into the topic, you can find the content right below.

Watch: WRC REVOLUTION: GOODBYE HYBRID. FIA wants more MANUFACTURERS involved – with Andrea Adamo