Ogier took a lot of joy from his win on Sunday, so rallying clearly still means a great deal to him. He also acknowledged how special the victory was for his new co-driver Vincent Landais. “It’s huge,” he said with a smile. “I love this rally. It’s the one which gave me the dream right at the beginning and I am so happy for Vincent. For me it’s nice, but for him it’s a dream to take his first win.

“We still need to enjoy these moments and that’s why we are still here [in the WRC], to catch some victories like this. To win a famous one like Monte has no price.”

OK, hang on. Let’s look at his approach from another direction. For all we’re clearly missing out on, perhaps it’s refreshing that Ogier is no longer motivated by notching up world titles, that all he wants to do is win rallies and savour the purity of that feeling. It’s a throwback to past greats, isn’t it? I’m thinking primarily of Walter Röhrl, a two-time world champion who turned his back on winning a third because he claimed it would do little for him.

Röhrl won the Monte four times in quick succession: in rear-driven Fiat 131 Abarth and Opel Ascona in his title years of 1980 and ’82 respectively, then famously for Lancia in the glorious 037 in ’83 – the year he stubbornly chose to only compete six times, leaving the way clear for Audi’s Hannu Mikkola to claim the crown. He then sensationally switched to old enemy Audi for ’84 and promptly scored perhaps his greatest victory.

I asked Röhrl about his odd attitude to success when I interviewed him for Motor Sport back in 2010. It was a proper pinch-me moment to listen to him as he recounted how the obtuse reticence had kicked in as early as the aftermath of his first WRC title. “I wanted to show that I was the best and then stop,” he said. “After 1980 [co-driver] Christian [Geistdörfer] said to me ‘you must be crazy to stop now, we are world champions. For the first time we can earn money!’ I told him ‘I don’t do it for money, I do it just for me. I only want to know for myself if I’m good, and out in the forest at night it’s the right place for me’.

“World Championships didn’t mean much to me,” he insisted. “In 1983 I was lying second in the world championship by three points, from six rallies. Everybody said you must do one rally more. But I said no, I don’t want to be champion. It doesn’t give me anything.”

Röhrl did admit he was “strange” – I agree, but wonderfully so! And he also professed to some regret for that decision. Not much, but some.

Twenty-odd years from now, I wonder if Ogier might have some regret too, for not taking on Rovanperä over a full season, just to find out how it would work out. He clearly has nothing to prove given the astonishing career he’s had on the stages. But isn’t he just a little bit curious, especially as Rovanperä is obviously his successor?

C’mon Sébastien, have a change of heart, before it’s too late.

As it is, we’re probably relying on Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans to step up and take on Rovanperä this year. Neuville claimed a decent podium third on Sunday, but has previously fallen just short of stringing together enough top performances across a season to win a title. Might it be different this time?

As for Evans, twice a runner-up to Ogier, he’s coming off the back of a relatively disappointing 2022 when expectations were so high. He was out of luck yet again on the Monte last weekend, a puncture on Friday scuppering his attack and probably robbing him of the podium place that fell instead to Neuville. Both know how to win rallies in style and on their own terms. We know that because we’ve seen them do it. For the sake of the championship as well as their own ambitions, let’s hope they step up.

And what of Ott Tänak? Well firstly, thank goodness the 2019 champion was on the Monte at all following his disaffection with Hyundai last term. The newly minted deal with M-Sport has given him an exciting opportunity to make the Puma a regular winner, but perhaps inevitably he was cautious first time out, on a rally that has bitten him in the recent past. A safe fifth was fine, and second place on the Power Stage – just half a second off Rovanperä – at least bodes well that pure speed is there in the new combination. A world title tilt might be unrealistic this year. Then again, football fans would have said as much about Arsenal. As he showed last year, Tänak has another title in him – he just needs M-Sport to provide him with the goods to make it happen.

Sweden’s next, on February 9-12. There’s so much more to look forward to.