My answers above. Just trying to play devil's advocate really. To me this is an indication he is staying put next year.
If it was 100% sure that Neuville was leaving, maybe he wouldn't be on this test. But it would be a very bad tactical move to let him go now, before Hyundai tries out some variables with both Neuville and Paddon. They have a lot invested in Neuville, and if the GB is what he needs to wake up, they can work further together.
But still Hyundai would not do their job properly if they didn't search out the market for alternatives. Kris Meeke is the obvious answer, but other things like having Mikko Hirvonen in a support role would also be a step in the right direction.
Hyundai has a challenge with a team with no really experienced development driver (including Sordo who I got a feeling that when in Citroën it was more about doing his job and not be vocal - than anything else), so they don't really know the speed of their car.
Sordo has his best stage times when he in post stage interviews complains about understeering. And more often than not, the tarmac specialist has them in very slippery muddy conditions.
Neuville has stage times all over the place, with a very declining trend. He comes from a Ford which most probably is the easiest car to drive in the WRC, to a Hyundai with more of a French approach. This can muddle the set up, because if Hyundai are trying to make a "French-fast" car, ie. lower roll centre, stiffer in roll etc, and Neuville really can't drive that kind of car (this kind of car will feel very understeered to the driver that is not capable of creating the front end grip), they will try to compensate with set up changes.
When the geometry in the car is right, but the driver is wrong for it, You will get some very strange set up solutions to try to better it. The geometry is the foundation. So the car, like its tarmac set up with a strange "top heavy" roll, could be a way to help the drivers making it steer, but all in all a very bad compromise to the speed/set up.
In short: We dont really know what the Hyundai is capable of before Loeb or Ogier drives it - and they won't.
Paddon is a joker, and can also unsettle the set up direction a little bit. He is in the class of Latvala when it comes to shear car handling, and You could give him ha wheel barrow and he would drive the wheel(s) of it. And is the most true Driver in the team.
But he can compensate for any set up shortcomings, and You see also that he does, by driving the Hyundai a little bit "rear-wheel-drive-ish", where You get the pendulum going, and push the car from behind - rather than pull it from the front.
So what do You do as a engineer?
In the blue corner You have Neuville - wearing his Spy glasses, Superdry shirt and sporting a well combed hair cut - complaining about how awful this car is, and that it isn't worth the risk to try and push it to the limits.
And in the Red corner, wearing a Escorth MKII steering wheel around his neck, You have Paddon who just arrived from driving a 750 hp four wheel drive hill climb car that one of his friends built in the shed, and is deeply impressed by the fact that all the team cars are painted in the same color, and by Neuvilles account sets blistering times because he doesn't know any better.
Hiring an outside consultant, preferably Grönholm or Hirvonen would be a very good decision in my mind
Look at Paddon driving a home built 750 hp hill climb monster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjyrCGWoguU
The best driver decision for Hyundai would in my mind be to hire Kris Meeke. He did a lot of development work for Citroën, and has shown great speed in a French car, and him with full thrust from the team - would yield som great performances!
