Neuville was born in St. Vith, a German-speaking municipality in eastern Belgium, and is a native German speaker who uses French pacenotes. He drove his first rally at 19 years of age in 2007. In 2008 he won the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium Rally Contest, launching his career, and the following year he claimed the Citroën Rally Trophy Belux.
Between 2009 and 2011 Neuville competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge alongside his early WRC appearances. His WRC debut came at the 2009 Rally Catalunya in a Citroën C2 R2 with Nicolas Klinger as co-driver. In 2010 he also competed in the Junior World Rally Championship. Despite leading multiple events and taking stage wins across both series, retirements prevented him from winning either championship in those early seasons.
Citroën's junior team signed Neuville for the 2012 World Rally Championship season, giving him selected starts in a Citroën DS3 WRC. His season was inconsistent but showed clear pace, including leading a WRC event for the first time at the Rallye de France where he finished fourth with multiple stage wins.
Moving to the Qatar World Rally Team and a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for 2013, Neuville transformed from a promising talent into a genuine title contender. He scored his maiden WRC podium in Mexico and then strung together a remarkable run: third in Greece, second in Italy, Finland, Germany, and Australia. He finished runner-up in the championship, 114 points behind Sébastien Ogier but comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, establishing himself as one of the sport's premier drivers after just his second full WRC season.
Hyundai Motorsport signed Neuville on a multi-year deal to lead the Korean manufacturer's return to the WRC from 2014. He scored Hyundai's and his own first WRC victory at the 2014 Rallye Deutschland, with co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul, in a result made dramatic by Neuville rolling six times during pre-event shakedown yet winning the rally itself, with teammate Dani Sordo second for a Hyundai one-two.
After a difficult 2015 season, Neuville became a fixture at the top of the WRC standings from 2016 onwards, finishing runner-up in the Drivers' Championship consecutively from 2016 to 2019. During those four seasons he battled for the title against Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak with narrowing margins: in 2017 and 2018 he lost the title to Ogier in the final rounds, while in 2019 he was beaten by Tänak. His 2019 results contributed to Hyundai winning their first manufacturers' championship title.
In 2018 Neuville won Rally Sweden — becoming one of the few non-Nordic drivers to win on snow — and claimed victories in Portugal, Sardinia, and other events in what became a six-victory season, before losing the title in the final round in Australia. His partnership with Nicolas Gilsoul continued until Gilsoul stepped back from competition; Martijn Wydaeghe subsequently became his co-driver.
After three consecutive third-place championship finishes from 2021 to 2023, Neuville took his first world title in 2024. He and Wydaeghe won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and the Acropolis Rally among other victories, and remained consistent enough through the campaign to secure the Drivers' Championship before the final round, also delivering Hyundai their first Drivers' title in over a decade of competition.
Neuville made his circuit racing debut in the 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship as a guest driver, piloting a Hyundai i30 for Engstler Motorsport at the Nürburgring. In the first race he took pole position, set the fastest lap, and won; in the second race, starting from the reversed grid in tenth, he finished sixth in wet conditions. As a guest driver he was ineligible to score championship points. Neuville has expressed interest in contesting the 24 Hours Nürburgring in the future.
Neuville is married and became a father in July 2019. His younger brothers Yannick Neuville and Tom Heindrichs are also rally drivers. He holds 22 WRC victories, all achieved with Hyundai Motorsport, making him the most successful driver in that manufacturer's WRC history.
Thierry Neuville's career is defined by the tension between exceptional speed and the misfortune and occasional errors that repeatedly deprived him of the title before 2024. Five runner-up finishes before finally winning underscores the margins at the top of contemporary WRC competition; his maiden title in his seventeenth WRC season made him the first Belgian to win the world rally championship.