Exactly.

After Grönholm quit, he has had little to none competition. He is fast, but I think his greatest advantage is the fact that he never tries too much, and always finishes. He does not make mistakes. Specially Latvala has been faster many times, but problem with him is that he tries too much and eventually crashes. Hirvonen does not crash often but he seems not to be fast enough to beat Loeb continuously.

At this point, Hirvonen, Latvala and Ogier start to get close to Loeb's speed and provide him competition. Few years ago Loeb did not have any experienced and fast drivers against him so he had easy victories. Now the young drivers start to learn and get faster each season and it won't take long till eventually they will beat Loeb. In the era of real competition amongst WRC drivers, he would not had achieved what he has. If he would've had Kankkunen, Röhrl, Vatanen, Mäkinen, Sainz, McRae etc. against him, it would not be easy for him. Question is, will he eventually quit WRC before somebody faster than he will beat him.

PS. Citroen is reliable and works, Ford seems to have technical problems always. The cars might be equally fast, but like always, you can't trust a Ford.