During his very first test with a GP2 machinery, Loeb was almost 5 seconds slower than the usual GP2 contenders, which said a lot about the difficulty in switching from rally to F1/GP2 car. But his image aside – he would have probably made a foul out of himself – he would have risked his health, as he would have debuted in the series without any prior testing of an F1 car.
According to the very man who offered him the chance to do the outing in the first place, Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost, Loeb would have been wrong to say yes to the idea.
“To do such a race, he must be prepared. That means something like three test days just to get used to everything. It's quite complicated even to do the starting process. We observed this with our drivers this year. It's not so easy just to come in and you think you can do everything,” said Tost in a short interview with Autosport.
“There are so many switches and so many mappings you have to take care of. Apart from that, to drive Formula 1 cars nowadays is not so easy,” added the Austrian boss.
The 6-time World Rally champion insisted, however, that racing in Formula One even for a single race is something he has already set his eye on for the future, so one should never give up hope. Tost agrees with Loeb's point of view, but once again reminded the Frenchman to prepare well for it.
“If Loeb has the time to test and to be prepared, there's no reason why he couldn't do a proper job,” concluded Tost.
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