Is loeb really interested in Torro Rosso?

or rather vice versa

Well, he's really, really quick. Testing in F1 car late last year saw him in the top times straight away, with hardly F1 experience. His car control is naturally outstanding, but it seems he does extremely well in an F1 car too. He might be the better bet for Toro Rosso, Alguersuari is just a little too young I fear. They better give him proper testing first.

I'd like to see him in TR, he very, very talented.

nice topic title

A rally driver w/almost no F1 experience is a better choice than somebody who's been driving karts and open-wheelers his whole life?

Sorry, but I think Loeb into F1 is a pipe dream.

He has the right first name.

I think it will be an okay choice. Loeb is quick. Maybe not right away, but he will get there and soon also. the publicity will far outweight the lerning period.

Bjørn

That's a good point. Red Bull is a marketing company.

They have the RBRs at the front, but will certainly be looking to leverage maximum promotional value from STR even if STR can't seem to leverage some points for themselves!

In that case, Loeb is the best selection for STR.

That was my first thought too!

Give Alguersuari the seat for most of the season but hand it over to Loeb on a one race deal for some great PR at Abu Dhabi

He's clearly talented enough to have a crack at F1, his F1 tests and Le Mans experience show that. Not sure he'd want to race in F1 with STR but it'd be a fun post WRC season gig along with the RoC in China.

You should take a look at the test center 17 november 2008 at Barcelona. He was on the pace straight away. I agree this is only testing and no racing. That's a different matter, but he definitely has what it takes.

obviously he's a great talent
but to get into f1 at the highest level you need the last tenths of a second...can he deliver that? i doubt it, even though i like him a lot
if he comes and ends up being 0.7sec a lap slower than buemi....great for a driver without any experience but poor for his team

I don't know if a driver can come to f1 that late and keep up with the developing kids that are coming in, i don't doubt loeb's talents I just think it may be too late to make a move to f1.

Besides i love wrc and so i don't want him gone from that... at any rate, 2 very different kinds of racing, it's one thing to be able to stay on pace but it's another thing to get the car to grant good positions and consistency at a race, and i mean that for both F1 and WRC.

Raikkonen is a winning f1 driver, he also likes rally and he can hold his own on rally races, but that may not be enough to make him a winning rally driver. The same way around for Loeb in my opnion, he is a winning rally driver, he can probably hold his own on f1, but that doesn't mean he will be able to do that much there.

F1 is my fav racing, but i gotta admit, if i was Loeb i would not leave what he has at the wrc to enter what has become the bullshit world of f1.

Althou WRC is FIA's too, and you can see the demage when you look at ford and citroen, and you see how much better the competition could be, with many other manufacturers and teams, but at least there mosley isn't watching 100% of the time, there they can focus on racing more and less on politics.

I'll do my happy dance if Loeb gets an F1 seat.

Loeb in F1 would be GREAT!!!!

He is contract with Citroen until end of WRC season and in talks for untill 2010.

BUT

I think it's very serious that he will be in the TR for the last race in Abu dhabi, and we will see more clearly if a WRC drivers can compete - at least for the laptimes - f1 drivers...

has Loeb done any type or racing before?

Loeb himself has declared he is not fit enough for F1 and Citroen forbids him, so Loeb not to Torro Rosso

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-...is-1355722.html

That made me laugh harder that it should have!

{edit}Quoted the wrong post. {/edit}

A little race near the town of Le Mans

Seriously?

He did Le Mans last year. Not sure about this year.

What's his first name? Haken?

Sebastian ... so at least he fits one of Toro Rosso's job requirements.

yes, but citroen isnt

Autosport (print) seems to think it's happening this year.

Loeb has shown great F1 skills, but I doubt we will see him in F1... He's quite old for a Debut...

I don't doubt, he is going to race in the final race of this year Championship in Abu Dhabi. I've read it somewhere.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77136

Well, he's not exactly young I suppose. Probably better to stick with what you know.

There seems to be some sort of resistance by a few F1 fans to accept that a champion from another discipline could waltz into the holy grail of motor sports and be a winner. We witnessed this with Rossi, and now with Loeb. Despite the fact that they have both excelled in their brief appearances in F1 testing, they are written off as being, "too old", or, "not enough experience in open wheel vehicles",or, "it´s just publicity", or some other such nonsense. The truth is, both these guys have natural qualities most F1 drivers would kill for, and would be serious threats in whatever discipline they chose to compete in. Sorry if that bursts any preconceived bubbles, but it´s just the truth.
I hope Seb takes up any offer to compete in F1, because I know he will prove me right.

James Toseland went to have a go of the Williams F1 simulator, and by the end of the day he was only 1.5 - 2.0 off Naka's time.

I'm sure there's a video on YouTube.

FIA do a good job of making sure there are only 2 marques by not being bothered.

If they just made it a S2000-spec championship, there would be 10 marques and all the privateers will have chance for outright victory against the horde of works machines, with 40+ cars going for outright honours at every event. But no, FIA wants S2000 with 1600T engines, and there will 2-3 marques, no incentive for S2000 marques to build a whole new engine and no chance for privateers to win with MSport/Citroen always supplying detuned cars to privateers.

Rallying is dead to me, so I'd rather see Seb jump in an F1 car, he clearly has the speed.

Doubt it will happen though.

Being 1.5 to 2.0 seconds off a competitive time is not particularly good I would say. Surely Rossi was closer to Schumacher or any of the Ferrari drones to be considered a decent prospect?

I don't think Loeb is necessarily too old in his mid 30s. Damon Hill and Gilles Villeneuve were both already considered old when they entered F1. Driver's don't get much slower due to age (hence retired drivers being able to put in very respectable lap times) but rather lose the necessary stamina to keep it up for 60 odd laps and they get fed up with the 'lifestyle' and associated bullshit.

Loeb would be new to F1 and obviously has outstanding talent as a driver (but perhaps not the right talent for formula racing). All he apparently needs is stamina and a free schedule.

It would be very interesting to see how he stacks up as a rally driver vs. race drivers. In the olden days, cross class outings were very common, these days its all specialism. Not so much to strengthen a particular skill set IMO but because driver X is simply afraid to ruin his hard earned reputation by driving a car he might not be quite as fast in due to lack of training/experience and to be seen as a tosser as a result.

being 0.6 sec slower and he will look like piquet in qualy vs alonso
being 1.5 sec slower he would start looking like yoong
even though it's a great performance for someone outside the world of f1 it's a poor performance for someone who wants to win.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77557



Huh, did I miss something?

looks like someone spoke prematurely...

I spotted that as well, he sounds confident that it's a happening thing.

Haha yes I saw that too, I think he was thought to been keen on doing it but from the sounds of that it's a done deal.
Slip of the tongue perhaps?

Maybe Citroen cut a deal in order to get Loeb to 'be quiet and drive'? Loeb was very vocal about gunning for the STR seat, then all of a sudden changed direction a month or two back.

I truly hope he gives it a go. I have no doubt in my mind at all that he will surprise MANY people with his speed straight out of the box in the STR, should he get that green light.

The question is...if this is a done deal for the end of the year, why would Red Bull block Ferrari's request to let Schumacher run in the F60? If they had approved this, they could have probably have gotten JA another single test day AND a day for Loeb to get himself adjusted.

I wonder if someone can lend Loeb the ex- Super Aguri's to test!

This was a superb vid on Youtube covering his very first test at Silverstone... now bearing in mind he had never driven an F1 car before, simply watch the way he gets to grips with the car on a damp track.... THIS GUY HAS TALENT! I genuinely dont think there is a single rookie who can compare this this guys ability behind the wheel of any car! I remember asking him at the Service "In"control at Felindre on Rally GB in 2004, if he would consider switching into F1 and he said "unlikely..but who knows..." 5 years later and he may just get that chance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNnRD8FJKi8

I have to say, I truly despair at what is going on with the WRC at the moment and this push for 1600cc Turbo engines is simply a joke. For once in nearly 10 years we see a championship with more than 5 manufacturers, really hard fought races and superbly fun cars to watch and drive, only it's NOT the WRC! The IRC really have shown the WRC how to listen to what seems to be popular and make it work.

Currently we have:
Peugeot,
Volkswagen,
Toyota,
Skoda,
Opel,
MG,
Ford,
Arbarth,
Proton,
Honda,
All running S2000 cars!
and even Mitsubishi with the Group N Evo x.

Throw in Citroen, possibly Suzuki again and maybe a return for Subaru and Seat, we would then have 15 manufacturers and 30 WORKS cars!!!

But no.....the FIA having championed the S2000 cause, then suddenly decides that 1600cc Turbo engines is a better option, thus forcing all the current manufacturers to decide if they want to build another bespoke engine. The whole point of S2000 was a commonality with other race classes like Touring Cars, thus reducing the cost of entry for manufacturers to switch from taking their Touring car, throwing a standard 4 wheel drive system on and keeping certain standard parts.... using the worlds most popular by volume engine - a 2 Litre 4 Cylinder!

It is for this very reason that I think Sebastien got sick to death of not knowing what was going on, no real competition for him anymore and a dying championship. Another side bonus of Ari getting the FIA President seat, would be a radical overhaull of the WRC I suspect. So thats why I am sure he was keen to pursue a new challenge if the opportunity presented itself.

I sincerely hope Seb gets to race an F1 car, it would be very interesting to see a 7 times F1 World Champion Versus a 6 (possibly) Time World Rally Champion, plus three other F1 Champions....throw Rossi in there as well and that becomes possibly the biggest F1 "PR" Race of all time....now THAT would be worth buying a plane ticket for!

In the last race the Finnish commentators said that Loeb had been in Hungaroring earlier with an F3000 car for 3 days. As Citroéns WRC program is sponsored by Red Bull, I think they could be persuaded. Loeb doing a GP in STR would be fantastic PR for Red Bull. This is turning up to be a fantastic year for cameo appearances.

That guy is a promoter, more or less, so him saying it doesn't mean it's a done deal at all. He's saying it because he thinks it would be great for WRC- they could potentially get wandering F1 fans after seeing Loeb drive at Abu Dhabi.

It's all marketing speak. I doubt anything is a done deal.

Talk of this deal had gone quiet, but Loeb's boss has had this to say...


"I am not a Formula One boss, so I have no seat to offer Sebastien," Quesnel told AFP.

"But if someone makes a proposal to Sebastien, Citroen Racing will authorise him for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since the rally season will be over at that date."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/artic...jectid=10595613

(Bits of that story are now inaccurate because Loeb got a penalty and was demoted so lost the win.)

The portuguese Autosport is reporting that Seb will test a GP2 car in the official Jerez tests at 6-7-8 of October. After the test, he and Dieter Mateschitz will then decide whether he will race in Abu Dhabi or not.

http://autosport.aeiou.pt/gen.pl?p=stories...s.stories/76754

This is pretty cool - dude's taking this really seriously. I remember rumours that he was also testing a F3000 car a couple weeks ago at the Hungaroring.

Loeb in an STR would be interesting, but a massive risk to his good name.

He has next to no experience in open wheelers.

Considering how badly Luca Badoer struggled, Loeb could be much worse.

Could really Badoer his reputation.

I think its fantastic, Loeb is a real racer in my eyes

I really hope he gives it a go. Would be fantastic to see how he'd do. He probably has the speed as he was good in his test last year.

I'd be all for a 2010 Toro Rosso line-up of Sébastien Buemi, Sébastien Loeb, and test driver Sebastian Hohenthal.