WRC
Østberg lifts the lid on rallying’s mental challenges
Closing in on an incredible 300th start during a career that has yielded more than 70 wins, including success at the highest level in the WRC, Mads Østberg says he still has doubts over his ability.
It’s quite a statement from the 2012 Rally de Portugal winner and 18-time podium finisher that has gone toe-to-toe with the best in the WRC.
From the outside fans, see WRC drivers like Østberg perform miracles as metaphorical superheroes, threading rally cars through the toughest of roads in the most extreme conditions. At times, the process can be almost robotic, but ultimately those in the driving seat are human beings with emotions and doubts.
Østberg describes himself as an emotional person. Over the years, heart on the sleeve character has got him into trouble at time - but it has also won himself legions of fans.
Speaking in the latest episode of the WRC Backstories Podcast hosted by Becs Williams, the likeable Norwegian candidly explains the mental challenges he’s faced and how he’s evolved over his career, which will hit 300 rallies at next month’s FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) Barum Czech Rally Zlín.
“It has been a long time. I have been around and doing a lot of rallies for so many years I can’t remember my first rally anymore. I have done rallies for more than 20 years,” he said.
Østberg won the 2012 WRC Rally de Portugal
© Rally de Portugal
“I have calmed down over the years, but I do have a lot of emotions. I share those emotions and sometimes it is a good thing and sometimes it can be a bad thing. But at least that is how I am.
“I still do, to this day, [have doubts]. I think that is my emotions playing with me, as they have done for all of my career.”
Østberg, the son of rally driver Morten, developed a love of rallying during his childhood with his heroes including 1995 WRC champion Colin McRae. It wasn’t long before the bug turned into a stint co-driving for his father, before a switch to the driver’s seat beckoned. After impressing in the junior ranks, Østberg was picked up by Subaru Norway’s talent programme - landing drives in the Norwegian Rally Championship, which he won four times (2007-2009, 2011).
Subaru pulling out of the WRC thwarted any progression to rallying’s top tier with the Japanese marque but Østberg bounced back from that setback to reach his goal with the Stobart M-Sport Ford squad in 2011. Stints with the factory Citroën team followed in 2014-2015 and 2018-2019. That relationship with the French marque has since continued through WRC2, up until today with Østberg contending for the ERC title driving a C3 Rally2.
Østberg has proved his resilience to setbacks, doing so while showcasing his speed on countless occasions and today the 37-year-old continues to compete at the sharp end. But this has played out in the backdrop of a constant battle with his emotions.
The Norwegian enjoyed stints with Citroën's top-level WRC team
© Red Bull Content Pool
Anger and expletives often came to the fore at stage-end interviews in the early days of his career, with Østberg regularly frustrated and hard on himself. As he explains, it got to a point where he sought help.
“I had good people around me but nobody with experience of live TV or media, nothing like that, so all of that had to be learned. Obviously with my personality as well maybe it didn’t fit so well at the time, so I had to do some learning,” he explains.
"I am still, to this day, a person with huge emotions. I want to keep it like that because I do like my emotions even if they make good and bad things in life. But I got a mental coach in 2009 and he is still with me today, and he is one of my best friends and he still helps me to prepare for my rallies and to go through stuff. Together we can work on improving stuff and I still have to do that.
"I still do things professionally that maybe I shouldn’t do and then I have to change it. You don’t have to go too far back to Sardinia 2021 where that video [of my reaction to a puncture] became quite famous where me and Torstein [Eriksen, co-driver], were slightly upset.
Østberg can often be found behind a microphone on WRC rounds these days
© WRC
“Obviously you are only a human being. Most people in life are not on camera all the time, and we are, so I have to act professional. I am always a person who will be myself in any scenario and I will continue to do that, but I need to make adjustments, and I have done that through my career.
“I’m probably not the most politically correct person in the world but I like to be honest. I want other people to be honest as well. I encourage people to say what they are thinking.”
It is human nature to have doubts or a lack of belief at times. As Østberg says, even today - on the verge of a 300th rally = he still grapples with self-doubt after all of his success. However, there are times when those doubts evaporate.
One that particularly stands out for Østberg was a run to second on Rally Sweden in 2011, finishing 6.5sec behind the factory Ford of Mikko Hirvonen. It was a maiden podium that ignited his WRC career in what was his first full breakthrough top-flight season Stobart M-Sport Ford.
“Obviously it was the first time in my career where I did a WRC event in a competitive car on the same level as the other guys,” he explains.
“I had been fighting for so long to be in that position and then to see all the struggles and all the emotions I have been through over the years was paying off. To fight with the big boys, it was incredible. That was my dream for so long to be in that position.
I still do, to this day, have doubts. I think that is my emotions playing with me, as they have done for all of my career.
“Still to this day it is probably the greatest memory of everything I have done because it was such a long fight and so many disappointments and so many times things were looking positive, but then it turned out differently. From the day I was picked to drive the WRC Subaru in the Norwegian championship and that day in Rally Sweden where I finished second, these are two of the strongest emotions in my whole career. It was great. I felt like all the doubt that especially I gave to myself was gone.”
Circumstances may change as time moves on, but Østberg will always be an honest, emotional character who certainly knows how to drive a rally car fast.
“It [my emotions] has been a good thing but it has also been a bad thing and maybe if I controlled it differently or if I was a different person my career could be different. But I’m still a very happy human being and I achieved a lot of goals and I’m glad I’m the person I am, but it worked against me sometimes.”
Listen to the full WRC Backstories Podcast to find out how being disqualified from a rally led to a breakthrough drive with Subaru, plus Østberg reveals his favourite cars and team-mates and much more.
