Tommi Mäkinen: "You just go absolutely flat out everywhere"

At the 2017 Monte Carlo rally, we spoke to four-time World Rally Champion, ex-Mitsubishi stalwart and new Toyota Gazoo rally team boss Tommi Mäkinen. There are fewer people more qualified to express an opinion on 2017’s new rally rules, and its wild new cars…

Tommi Mäkinen on his reaction to the new rally regulations…

“It’s looking good. We could hear the cars far away, they give more sound and that is very positive, and they look spectacular. I was like ‘bloody hell, this is really exciting’.”

On having more freedom to set up the cars…

“The new regulations concept is similar to the past, but there is a bit more power because the restrictor is 3mm bigger so we have 60bhp more, plus the new aero, some difference in the suspension, wider tracks, a bit different transmission too.

“Of course for the team who used to run the previous cars it’s not such a big difference, they’re analysing and using the their data, but we have to pay more attention to our test programme. We started from scratch so we have nothing, no data. Now I’m pretty sure we’re getting somewhere because we’re analysing all areas and listening to driver feedback. We should be able to get stronger and stronger.

“We have far higher tyre wear because of more power and more downforce putting more load through the tyres. This is going to be critical. 

"Bringing back the centre diff gives so much opportunity for setting the car up. Even if you had a car with the best ever parts, just a little bit of setting up will change the performance from ‘okay’ to ‘best ever’. That will take time – it’s part transmission, part suspension, part powertrain, part aero. There are so many different options, so many different areas. That makes it quite tricky."

"If you start playing with that mid-way through the rally, you’re not going to win. If the car feels like it’s going to win the rally, you don’t touch it, you just keep driving.”

On driving the new Toyota Yaris WRC himself…

“Yes I’ve driven it quite a lot in testing. You know, I have driven rally cars before and I have, er, some experience so… [laughs]. I wanted to feel the car, and feel the differences when we make changes. Then we can have easier discussions with the drivers, and I understand exactly what they need. It’s far easier to discuss, that way.

“Compared to my time, in my time, we were always saying that a certain car was suitable for one type of condition, and another was suitable for a different kind of condition. I would say that’s the improvement with the latest technology: all the cars are very fast, and they all behave very well in every kind of condition. They use such massive suspension travel, they’re so strong you don’t need to worry about anything.

“[In my time] there were always places where we had to slow down a lot because suspension behaviour was not so good and you worried you were about to break something. Now you don’t have to worry, you just go absolutely flat out everywhere.”

On how the new cars have changed the driving style in WRC…

The longer wheelbase cars – the Citroen C4 and Ford Focus – didn’t want to go sideways very much, and that was the moment when everyone changed their driving style, going with far less sliding, because this was the fastest way. We have continued with a neater, understeering car because this is still faster.”

On challenging for the WRC title…

“We are here to learn a lot to be strong in 2018. Of course it is already looking very good. At the Monte Carlo rally you don’t know exactly where you are, but we will keep working, keep analysing keep making changes and getting stranger. I hope that next year we’ll be far stronger and we’ll be ready to fight for the title. 

On which event he’s most looking forward to…

“I think Rally Sweden will be good for us, even though we’re just beginning our career. No conditions are familiar to us, so we can afford to experiment. We’ll see…”

On the different driving styles of Toyota’s drivers…

“Juho Hänninen’s driving style is very smooth, very careful. Jari-Matti Latvala is more like on/off [slaps hand on table]. He is braking aggressively into the corner, then immediately on the throttle as the corner opens.

“I did quite a lot of setup work last autumn on gravel. I found a setup working very well for me. Juho didn’t like that very much because his style is different, he wanted the car softer, and that setup didn’t really satisfy me. I like my transmission to be set up like Jari-Matti because I’m also a bit on-off, and I want to control the car with the throttle. But I like my engine mapping like Juho.”

"You need to drive, drive, drive to learn your vehicle. You need to learn how the car wants to go fast. A car is so many possibilities. If the driver is clever enough, the driver can understand how the car wants to go fast, and be able to change his driving style to follow the car’s preferred way to go fast. These are the best drivers. They are the ones who keep winning the titles." 

On whether or not he’d like to be back out there driving…

“No, no no no no. It’s a young man’s job!”