Seb Loeb gets Green light from Citroen for F1 at Abou Dhabi

[fenix4life]

The rumours in the French Media was already existing some weeks that Seb. Loeb didn't want to end his drivers career without knowing what he could in F1.
Basically he doesn't want to end like Rossi who has now regrets he did not try F1.

The biggest rumours are that he wants to participate in parallel WRC and F1. But is not really feasible.

Currently the only real possibility would be a Red Bull promotional stunt where he could drive an F1 car in Abou Dhabi. Most likely for Torro Rosso.

Those rumours have now been confirmed as Citroen Management officially gave Loeb Permission to go to F1 for Abou Dhabi. Now he only needs to find a free seat.

source http://www.lequipe.fr/Formule1/breves20 ... -loeb.html
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 2407.shtml

[Confused_Andy]

Force India?

[wesley123]

give a reason why a red bull sponsored driver would get put in a force india for a promotional stunt when you have 4 of your own cars ready?

Personally i would love to see it, good that he wants to try it either, i mean, give him a reason why he doesnt want to? I really understand him, he has achieved alot in Rally(i thought he held most titles and victories) From 2005 he is pretty much dominating WRC so i think it might gets boring at some time, formula1 would be a good career to try to achieve something else instead of doing something where you cant achieve anything more.

[ESPImperium]

Could be a good shout. As not shure about how Algusuari would react to it, being shoe horned out of the race seat.

[Confused_Andy]

Seems like Torro Rosso is a joke team anyway.

Alright they seem to allow younger/new drivers into the sport but they're a waste of space in reality. They dont develop their own chassis and the drivers dont really know where they stand, one min their in, next their out because they're not doing well and now one will miss out for a whim.

[szlaszlo84]

I think it will be nice to see Loeb driving for any of the F1 teams. Makes you wonder though what is the greatest skill difference between WRC and F1 drivers. I mean what makes them suitable to race in one championship or the other? Is it reaction time? Consistency? Smoothness? Ability to anticipate other's reactions?

I also agree with Toro Rosso being useless team anyways. I would hate to work for them as an engineer, a driver maybe.

[vyselegend]

I'm not so exited by the prospect of Loeb in formula 1. It would just be a sort of exorcism, like for Bourdais, just a way to say "I did it", so that he won't regret all his life that he didn't try it.

But I believe he's too old to really tackle something new and grow a career in the middle of the young wolves. If he comes to F1 I fear he'll do a Bourdais and just damage his career.

I'd rather have him full time in endurance, running a full program with either of the big forces involved, the obvious choice being Peugeot in his case.

Anyway, I think he should leave rally where he have nothing more to prove, and where luck seems to have deserted him btw:

Loeb penalty gives Hirvonen victory
Citroen accepts penalties

[Jersey Tom]

I'm not so exited by the prospect of Loeb in formula 1. It would just be a sort of exorcism, like for Bourdais, just a way to say "I did it", so that he won't regret all his life that he didn't try it.

But I believe he's too old to really tackle something new and grow a career in the middle of the young wolves. If he comes to F1 I fear he'll do a Bourdais and just damage his career.

I'd rather have him full time in endurance, running a full program with either of the big forces involved, the obvious choice being Peugeot in his case.

Anyway, I think he should leave rally where he have nothing more to prove, and where luck seems to have deserted him btw:

Loeb penalty gives Hirvonen victory

Citroen accepts penalties

Young has nothing to do with tackling something new or having talent. Hell, Loeb was a gymnast originally, no? Started rally when he was 21? That's an old age to start racing, and it sure hasn't hurt him.

I think it's great he wants to try something totally new. He may be great at it. Doesn't need to necessarily be a career, but even one good season would be worth it.

[vyselegend]

Well, you have a solid point in that he already proved he didn't need to follow the the academic path to succeed.

But I kind of disagree with the idea that "one good season would be worth it." It sounds egoistic. I mean, if you're just there to enjoy a season for your own pleasure, you should leave the place for a young guy who has a career to build. Obviously the young Alguersuari needs as much track time as possible, given the testing ban, so being put aside for a PR stunt is maybe ok for one race, but not for a season IMO.

STR should stop consuming driver randomly by pure caprice, and accept to invest on the long term on some young driver, like every other team do. (hum, almost...)

[wesley123]

But I kind of disagree with the idea that "one good season would be worth it." It sounds egoistic. I mean, if you're just there to enjoy a season for your own pleasure, you should leave the place for a young guy who has a career to build.

Ok why you have the job you are doing? because you like it, why are the drivers in f1 for? because they like to do it, i dont see why it sounds egoistic when you are doing a year because you have fun with it, actually what you are saying is that all those drivers are in f1 for the money and that there is no room for a person who wants to do a season because he has fun in what he is doing then.

[Confused_Andy]

I dont think thats at all what he's saying. What he means is that these young drivers are in formula 1 to begin building a career around it, why boot them out for someone who has enough money and just wants to come in for a bit of fun. Its totally unfair on the driver who looses their seat for a season as they are missing out on potential points/money/wdc?

[Jersey Tom]

I dont think thats at all what he's saying. What he means is that these young drivers are in formula 1 to begin building a career around it, why boot them out for someone who has enough money and just wants to come in for a bit of fun. Its totally unfair on the driver who looses their seat for a season as they are missing out on potential points/money/wdc?

Not unfair at all. And even if it was... so what? Since when is life fair. As a racing organization you want to win the championship. Not next year, not 5 years from now, but this year. You do that with the best driver available. Loeb certainly is talented. Definitely worth seeing how good he is in open-wheel circuit racing.

It's good to have younger drivers around as well, but I'd have them in a training and testing program first. Get them used to the organization, to feeling the car and giving feedback, and constantly evaluate them versus your race driver to see who's the best man for the job.

[Confused_Andy]

I dont think thats at all what he's saying. What he means is that these young drivers are in formula 1 to begin building a career around it, why boot them out for someone who has enough money and just wants to come in for a bit of fun. Its totally unfair on the driver who looses their seat for a season as they are missing out on potential points/money/wdc?

Not unfair at all. And even if it was... so what? Since when is life fair. As a racing organization you want to win the championship. Not next year, not 5 years from now, but this year. You do that with the best driver available. Loeb certainly is talented. Definitely worth seeing how good he is in open-wheel circuit racing.

It's good to have younger drivers around as well, but I'd have them in a training and testing program first. Get them used to the organization, to feeling the car and giving feedback, and constantly evaluate them versus your race driver to see who's the best man for the job.

But theres no such thing in formula 1 anymore with the in season ban. WHat driving can the new generation do outside of a race? They need every race to be able to develop a style or adapt to the car, they start missing out on races they'd be back to square one when its their turn to sit behind the wheel again.

Its just a load of crap to me, Loeb wont win or get any points, STR are a useless team that hasnt scored any points this year, what will be the difference if loeb drove? He's a rally driver, he cant drive the F1 car to get a feel for it because of the testing ban, so he'd have to learn in the race which would dismiss any chances of points.