Andrea Adamo does the look very well. The look that says he’s not furious, angry or cross. It’s the look at that says he’s disappointed (although he does do a cross – as well as irritated – look quite well as well…).
DirtFish is willing to bet that was the look he was wearing going into Hyundai’s Rally México debrief on Thursday.
He certainly wasn’t wearing it when he came out.
“We had an initial debrief on Sunday, the day after the rally finished,” Adamo told DirtFish. “This was quite nice, we had time to do this in a nice room and take some time – we were not busy this day.
“Then we had another debrief this week where we listened to everything that Thierry [Neuville] and Ott [Tänak] were telling us.
“They were complaining to us about what happened in México and like I told you, this is my fault for not planning things correctly.”
Tänak was Hyundai’s lead driver in México, finishing second. His team-mates Dani Sordo and Neuville both suffered mechanical problems with Sordo retiring with an engine fault on day one while Neuville was halted with electrical issues. While running, both set fastest times.
Asked if he felt the drivers’ complaints were justified, Adamo replied: “Yes. Listen, the day a driver stops complaining about something is the day a driver doesn’t want to win anymore.
“The complaints were only constructive and good ones. It’s good that these guys were explaining and not just complaining that: ‘This is s**t’.
“We sit together because we want to win together. It’s these moments when I realize that I am so lucky to be surrounded by clever people.”
Adamo admitted change would be coming as a result of the meeting, but only in terms of the team’s practices rather than personnel.
“I will try to reorganize things a little bit,” he said. “We are going to look at rejigging some of the ways we do some things in the company.
“[In terms of people] there is no change needed. There will, of course, be change coming with the car, we continue to make developments.
“I am happy. We made some good progress from a difficult event.”
