Toyota boss, Tommi Makinen, has explained his initial retirement regret in 2003 and says he is helping guide his lead driver on a similar decision. Mäkinen told DirtFish he would have liked the opportunity to reconsider his decision to retire at the end of 2003. “For me, in 2003 I knew I wanted to stop,” Mäkinen told DirtFish. “In this time, there was nothing but driving. “After one year of rest, I started thinking: ‘Why, why, why? I could and I should continue’. “It was like this for the next couple of years. I was thinking of one more year." He's not afraid to give some advice to his team's lead driver on his upcoming retirement decision. Sx-time World Rally Champion, Sebastien Ogier, has long said that 2020 will be his last season in the WRC, but the virus affected season is arguably not the swansong he would have wanted. "I mentioned this to Séb already. I told him: ‘From my own experience, maybe you take one year as the rest and then you start thinking… [to come back]’. It took a long, long time to settle down," Makinen added.

Sebastien Ogier at Rally Mexico 2020. Photo: Jaanus Ree

“I know if Séb is able to win a few rallies this year it’s very, very hard to make that decision [to leave]. “You don’t get that feeling anymore. One of the biggest things is that you miss that feeling when you win and you can say to the rest: ‘I was faster than you, I beat you’. “This is really the feeling, I can’t describe how good it is.”

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