Thierry Neuville has been fined €10,000 by the Monte Carlo Rally stewards but has escaped a time penalty, for a rules violation which in normal circumstances leads to automatic retirement from a World Rally Championship event.
After overshooting a hairpin on stage six Neuville sustained heavy damage to the left-rear wheel of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, colliding with a bank which left said wheel skewing outwards at a significant angle.
On the road section between the finish of stage six and the Gap service park, Neuville’s wheel stopped rotating, putting him in violation of Article 34.1.5 of the WRC sporting regulations that requires four freely rotating wheels and tires to be fitted to the car at all times.
In such cases, the standard outcome is automatic retirement from the event, given the car is deemed unsafe to continue. However, Neuville swerved this punishment and was dished out a €10,000 fine instead, with his Hyundai team successfully arguing there were mitigating circumstances.
Seven minutes after Neuville departed the stage six finish control, the left-rear wheel ceased to rotate – two minutes later FIA Technical Delegate Jerome Toquet informed Hyundai this was the case and a further two minutes later, on receiving that message from his team, Neuville pulled over to fix the wheel.
This sequence of events, stewards explained, constituted mitigating circumstances which avoided a forced retirement being implemented.
Neuville's first event as the defending champion has rapidly descended into a nightmare, with a €10,000 fine compounding his woes
The stewards’ report stated: “The Driver stated that after their accident on SS 6 La Bréole / Selonnet 1, they drove several kilometers on the stage without being aware that the left rear wheel was not freely rotating. The Co-Driver added that even the time loss on the stage was not that significant and they therefore did not assume that the car was that badly damaged.
“The Team Manager [Pablo Marcos] stated that he talked to their engineers about the compliance of Art. 34.1.5 of the 2025 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations, but unfortunately they did not immediately contact the crew as they assumed that they were aware about the problem. He added that, immediately after the team was informed by the FIA Technical Delegate that the wheel was not rotating, they informed the crew to stop and to repair the damage. They also explained that they were fully aware of the regulations and knew that driving on a public road with only three freely rotating wheels can result in an unsafe situation. Therefore, they immediately stopped the car when they were informed by the FIA Technical Delegate.”
Taking action shortly after the wheel had ceased rotating had saved Neuville from being made to retire from the rally, per the stewards’ decision: “The regulation also stipulates that “Any car not complying must immediately stop, repair the damage if possible, respecting all the applicable regulations or retire.
Their decision to dish out only a financial penalty was summarized as: “The Stewards concluded that as no sporting advantage was gained by the Competitor of car No. 1, a fine is appropriate and proportional in this case.”
The stewards admonished Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe for failing to check the car sufficiently after the finish of stage six, along with their team for failing to inform their driver of the damage quickly enough.
“It is the responsibility of the crew members to comply with the above regulations,” read the stewards’ decision, “and they should check their car right after the stop control and before driving on a public road, especially after an accident, as occurred on SS6. Furthermore, it should have also been the team’s duties to inform the crew immediately after watching the available television images in order to prevent any unsafe situation.”
Neuville’s title defense is off to a difficult start: after that stage six crash, a puncture led to him sliding off the road at the same hairpin on the second pass of the test, then lost even more time on Saturday morning with an apparent electronic problem that left him down on power, requiring a full restart sequence mid-stage to correct.
He currently sits eighth overall, over a minute behind Sami Pajari’s Toyota but well clear of Josh McErlean in the the lead M-Sport Ford Puma.