Loeb and F1
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Ok so i’ve just read that he was rejected his Super-License, which quite frankly is a joke. He made it clear he wanted to be in F1 but what do you think about it?
Is 36 too old? Would he of kept up pace with the current crop of F1 drivers?
Me personally I have no doubt he would’ve, it would’ve definitely improved the spectacle and would probably have received a drive at STR replacing the boring Buemi. I think we were robbed a real treat for at least a couple of years.
Hate to burst your bubble, but the Loeb Toro Rosso deal was only for the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP. He only wanted to try out F1. It would have been intereting to see how it went, but its very likely that he would have been at the back of the field. The deal fell through due to lack of testing and the rejected super licence. Loeb did test a GP2 car (similar to Schumi) in 2009 and also tested for Red Bull on some occasions but could not test the current cars due to the stupid testing ban.
Funny thing is, he would have been allowed to test this year. Im sure I heard of a rule this year that allowed drivers to do a test if they hadn’t driven an F1 car for 2 years.
Well, I didn’t know about the whole super-license thing since rally is no doubt skillful but boring as hell so I never kept up with it, but that’s not the point of the thread.
I was just interested in people’s views.
I don’t think so he will stay where he is, F1 & WRC are different & I don’t think coming in F1 will do any good to his reputation if he don’t perform.
i can’t see him coming to F1, i’m not sure if powersliding will work in the ToroRosso.
but he is a fantastic driver, who can adapt to differing conditions.. plus he has won 9? titles.. you get bored eventually.
I don’t think Loeb should be pigeonholed as a pure rally one-trick pony. His racing experience has been multi-disciplined, even if you discount his wins in the ROC. He’s competed at Le Mans in 2005 and 2006 (finishing 2nd overall) and was pretty successful in minor GT campaigns on the side.
Given his pace on tarmac and experience in wheel-to-wheel racing (as opposed to the point-to-point WRC style), I would expect him to be decently competitive in an F1 race and it’s a pity that his age will likely prevent us from seeing him do a reverse Raikkonen, even if only for a single race.
I’d love to have seen him do a race. He’s one of the greatest drivers in rallying history and one of the best drivers in the world at the moment. It’s a shame he’s a little too old to really give it a proper shot but I’m slightly perplexed as to why he wasn’t allowed a super license. It’s not like he’s a young racer looking to prove himself and take risks, he’s an experienced and sensible driver and I don’t think he’d have been a liability.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him test an F1 car again but after his rallying career I reckon he’ll dabble in sports cars or possibly even touring cars.
Loeb’s superlicence application was rejected because he did not have enough recent single-seater experience. Some of us predicted this at the time.
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