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As rallies were cancelled and reserve events added, there was some confusion as to how many rounds would actually be run. Ogier seemed to combat this by winning as many events as early as possible and by midpoint of the season, he had already won four out of six events run so far. This allowed him to settle down and score sure points on following events. As he won the season ending Monza, his score of five wins was way better than anyone else's.
Podium finishes were distributed a lot more evenly, the top three finishers of the championship all scoring seven podium finishes. As most of those were wins for Ogier, second places for Evans and third places for Neuville, it was no wonder their respective final championship positions were in that order.
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Both Ogier and Evans achieved perfect 100% scoring ratio but like noted in podiums section, Ogier's finishes were on higher rung and thus he ran away with the title. Interestingly, they scored no less than four (!) 1-2 finishes during the season, always Ogier winning and Evans second.
It is notable the Hyundai's shared drivers Sordo and Breen also scored every time they competed, but due to seat sharing they had no championship hopes.
Retirements were low during 2021, Hyundai losing both Tanak and Neuville twice each during the season. Toyota fared better as out of their three official entries retiring were twice for non-scoring Katsuta. But as both teams always scored with two remaining cars, championship wasn't directly affected.
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Now, this is where things get interesting. Ogier seemed to be the undisputed king as he was winning all the way but wait, how come it's Tanak who scored most stage wins over the course of the season? Answer is that he scored lots of stage wins in three events he seemed to win but didn't, Sardinia, Estonia and Finland.
Based on number of stage wins, it seems that Hyundai was faster car but Toyota was more reliable. Not only were Tanak and Neuville drivers scoring most stage wins, Hyundai also outscored Toyota both in number of total stage wins and Power Stage wins.
Rally leaders show different story. Tanak won plenty of stages but didn't lead as often, Neuville led but didn't score overall wins whereas Ogier and Toyota did.
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2021 was very special season as Finland hosted two rallies, their traditional gravel road grand prix but also replacement event for cancelled Swedish Rally in northern Arctic. This means that two of the fastest rallies of the season were both held in Finland.
Surprisingly tarmac event of Ypres in Belgium claims the third fastest slot, keeping up the tradition of fast sealed surface event. Slowest was Acropolis, as it almost always used to be in the past too.
Route lengths rebounced towards more normal levels but were still short of traditional distance, with only five events exceeding 300 kilometers in stage itinerary. Longest stage was little less than 38 km in Portugal and Safari stages were nowhere near as long as in the past, only little over 30 km at longest.
Number of competitors recovered even more, events having more entries than in the past five years. French reclaimed the most numerous nationality and Skoda overtook as the most common make.
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Ott Tanak can represent statistical king of 2021. Ogier won more events, scored more points, was close in stage wins - but Ott could have been there and he did win most Power Stages.
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