M-Sport Ford will lose Ott Tänak after this season of the World Rally Championship (WRC), having a difficult task of replacing him. There are plenty of options, such as Adrien Fourmaux, Pierre-Louis Loubet, or even Grégoire Munster. A top driver is not within the range of possibilities, mainly due to their unavailability in the market.
According to team principal Richard Millener, the preparation for 2024 is not a simple process in terms of budget: ‘It’s always a challenging time of the year for us. We try to put together a budget and gather all the pieces. Just because Ott is leaving the team doesn’t mean it’s easy to replace him with another driver. The loss of a top driver has several consequences.’
Realizing that it won’t be possible to have a top-tier driver next year, the team manager focuses on developing young talents: ‘Our goal is to have a young team – like a junior team, where new ideas are developed. At this time, we are not in a position to have a first-class driver. We have to be realistic about that. […]. There are advantages in being able to add the next top drivers to the junior team. That’s what Malcolm [Wilson, owner] and M-Sport have been doing for several years. Sometimes you have to take a step back to progress.’
