F1Break

Five-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb was incredibly only 1.2 seconds off the pace during today's test at Barcelona. The Frenchman proved to be in good humour after an impressive day's running.

"I don’t think I'd like to take this much horsepower into the forests!" he joked.

Much is made of the importance of preparing drivers for Formula One correctly. The generally accepted route now is for children to start in karting, before rising up the various stages of the single-seater ladder. Loeb has done none of that. In actual fact, he came to rallying late, after a successful career as a gymnast.

To put Loeb's performance into perspective, young hopefuls Bruno Senna, Giedo van der Garde and Lucas Di Grassi were all well over two seconds off the Frenchman's pace. Whilst the youngsters completed less laps than Loeb, they have spent almost their entire lives preparing to drive Formula One cars. Loeb, by comparison, has virtually no single-seater experience.

As you would expect, as the day progressed Loeb got faster as he learnt more about a car that behaves entirely differently to his usual equipment.

"It was a great experience and I had fun, although I have to say that driving one of these cars is tougher physically than driving my rally car," he explained.

"Towards the end of the day, I began to get a good feel for the car and enjoyed the sensation of it moving around on the track. I have to say that the level of grip in the high speed corners is very impressive."

Such was the speed that Loeb adapted to the RB4, he was asked by the team to contribute to their 2009 developement programme. As a result, he spent the afternoon session evaluating Bridgestone's new slick tyre.

Image courtesy of Red Bull Racing

In a sporting weekend that included the finale of the Formula One World Championship, as well as the New York Marathon, it should be of little surprise that the World Rally Championship struggled to attract press interest. Although the fact that the Stanford Super Series - a cricket tournament about as welcome as a phone call from Jonathan Ross - received more publicity seemed a particular injustice.

Last weekend saw Sebastien Loeb clinch his fifth straight World Rally Championship title. This was a truly extraordinary achievement, from a man who's dominated his chosen sport. Such is the level of Loeb's dominance that in 2006 he was forced to miss four rallies (25% of the total) due to a broken arm, but still won the title.

It has been announced that Loeb will test for Red Bull Racing later this month, during the official Formula One test at the Circuit de Catalunya. This isn't the first time the Frenchman has tasted Formula One machinery either, having tested for Renault last year. Loeb's run with Renault last year took place at Paul Ricard during a private test, whereas at Barcelona he'll be up against full time Formula One drivers. This isn't something that's been lost on the most successful rally driver in history.

"I'm now going to find myself in the midst of all the regular F1 drivers during an official test. I just hope that I don't make a fool of myself," he joked.

The relative merits of Formula One drivers compared to their rally counterparts is a hotly debated topic amongst motorsport fans. There's very little in the way of conclusive proof to support either side. Colin McRae received a run in Martin Brundle's Jordan during 1996, and proved to be only two seconds slower than the Englishman. Brundle himself was only 1.2 seconds off McRae's pace in a Subaru Impreza over a short rally stage. So honours even there.

It's unlikely that we'll be provided with an answer to the Formula One vs. rallying debate anytime soon, as Loeb has confirmed that a switch isn't something he's currently thinking about. The Frenchman will therefore defend his World Championship once again next year for Citroen, although he is due to test sister company Peugeot's Le Mans challenger at the end of this month, having already ran competitively on two previous occasions at the endurance event.

Image courtesy of Marco Murray