“You forgot [insert driver]!!!!” If I stopped to name every single one, I’d be here all day. Just because they’re not said doesn’t mean I forgot, or ignored. 😉

I don't think there is even a debate to be made here. Loeb is the greatest imo. One of the best drivers of his generation, in any discipline.

9:07 Ogier is retired full time now, he's doing a part time schedule this year. We are having a new champion in 2022 that isn't a Sebastien.

The bloke won in 2018, in a C3 that hadn’t won a rally that season, in only his third rally in that generation of car against a field of full time drivers how’d spent two years with those regulations. His feel for a rally car, on any surface is unmatched, I’d say even by Ogier. He tortured me growing up as a Markko Martin, Marcus Gronholm and Ford fan, but I just can’t help but appreciate his talent and how special he is to watch. For me, he is the greatest of all-time!

I've always had the opinion that rallying is the hardest motorsport in the world. You are going down unknown dirt roads about as wide as your car at up to 120mph while listening to a guy giving you directions, there's almost no room for error because there's no run offs and finally the cars have to be able to handle different surfaces on the stages, so you might be on dirt for the first 3rd of the stage and then switch to tarmac for the rest. The speed of the car isn't everything you need to keep in mind the vehicles being driven and the tracks/roads they're on. (The closest thing to a rally stage f1 has is qualifying at Monaco and I don't put that in he same category because the f1 drivers know the track they're driving while rally drivers need to listen for pace notes and react)

Here in France Seb Loeb is a legend but I think you're right pointing he is underrated in the rest of the world. Another driver who should be included in the list is the Belgian legend Jacky Ickx. 6 time winner of Le Mans and absolute master of the track, F2 champion and then winner of multiple F1 GPs, close to be champion (driving in endurance at the same time), winner of the Can-Am championship, of the Bathurst 1000, of the Dakar rally, and of dozens of big races. And he was maybe the best ever on wet conditions, maybe only Senna mastered the rain as well as Jacky did. But he could master terrible weather conditions, by night, in a 3h stint at Le Mans...

Given the wide variety of things he's done, yes. That little Le Mans fun fact is nuts. But on the same note of "If you're not in F1, you're not good" the reverse seems to apply. As in, there being instances of drivers who only had a year or two in F1, weren't awful but also Not Good Enough, simply couldn't get a seat, go do something else and go from not being able to drive the rubber left on the track to most of the grid lining up for your contract. F1 sure is a bubble...

To be considered a GOAt, for me the driver has to be multidriver, run in more than 2 competitions, and have a great amount of titles and wins, so, yes, Sebastien Loeb is a GOAT.

During the Red Bull test you mentioned, he was actually faster than Sebastien Vettel in the same car

Loeb is simply a different breed, I don't think anyone can argue that, especially when you realize just how difficult rally really is as a motorsport.

I think one name people miss off on the greatest driver lists is John Surtees. He won 4 500cc motorcycle world championships. 1 F1 world championship,l. Although it was nearly 2 if he hadn't have fallen out with Ferrari. 1 Can Am championship. He is the only man to beat Jim Clark in F1. Jim either won or broke down. So Jim only finished 2nd once at Hockenheim in the rain.

Seeing Loeb do the Dakar this year basically reaffirms my childhood sentiment that racing drivers were mad bastards and I mean that in a good way. To risk life and limb in a crazy pursuit of victory is what got me to liking motorsport as a kid. He might have ruined rally but that's not his problem or ours - it just is what it is.

I throw in Röhrl in a kinda "What if..." scenario. If he gave a wet fuck about it, Röhrl could've dominated everything he partcipated in

He is just godly behind the wheel of a car, he's up there with the likes Mr Le Mans, Hamilton, and even Mark Skaife, they all dominated their respective disciplines. And some even other racing series, like Loeb

That run in the Peugeot at Pikes peak is absolutely legendary!

Loeb is very friendly to rally spectators no matter if you wear a Subaru or Ford cap. I met this legend a number of times and allways makes time for a autograph or high five. One year in the rally Germany every car that went to pre rally inspection got driven by the teams mechanics, except one. Loeb and Elena did it theirselfs.

I always pictured him being so chill while he's driving sideways on dirt brushing the trees at 160kph that he's sipping a macchiato like Jean Jerard

Honestly, I think being so good that you effectively kill the sport only adds to the legacy of Loeb, especially given how awesome the pre-Loeb era of the WRC was. Some of the best rally drivers in full works outfits being made to look completely average. The thing with Loeb, it's not like Jim Clark because you can't really just turn up and win in many other disciplines, as the professionalism and standards are so high - but it's the fact Loeb can jump in and immediately be up there fighting with the best in that discipline that will always be impressive. If it wasn't for politics, Loeb was actually going to take part in the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP, but I believe he was denied a super license in what has to be one of the worst decisions the FIA has ever made. I'm slightly gutted he single handedly killed interest in my first love of motorsport, but it's hardly Loeb's fault he's that good. We are gonna miss him a lot when he calls time on his career permanently, even if at this rate it feels like he'll be doing this in his 60's

He's absolutely one of the greatest of all time. Watching Loeb vs Solberg vs Gronholm in 2003-7 was amazing, the 3 of them were brilliant and absolutely went for it, the WRC only got stale after Gronholm and Solberg retired and were left with Miko Hirvonen as the only challenge to Loeb, the results tell you how much of a challange that was. It's a similar story for Ogier as he dominated with VW who spent as much money as the other manufacturers combined.

I'd say Alonso is in contention aswell. He's won LeMans, WEC, won 2 F1 WDC's, he was in a lead at 2017 Indy 500 and did pretty good in his rookie Dakar race.

Ogier should be up for consideration as well. He's won world titles for 3 manufacturers(Toyota,Ford,VW), I believe helping launch the car the car for 2 of them as well. He's won rallies for 4 throwing Citroën in there.

The first time I saw Loeb he was a WRC rookie, and a tarmac specialist. He was not in the competition on gravel, dirt, or ice. He adapted. I can't think of another driver who improved as quickly and became so dominant.

People forget that Fangio won twice the Argentina Turismo Carretera championship(including some 4000km races in open roads), the Carrera Panamericana in México, 12 hrs of Sebring, podiums in the Mile Miglia and Targa Florio, etc. Not only an F1 man.

Great video as always, and as a Dane it's interesting to see you rate Kristensen so highly; I feel like he's often overlooked because the Audis were so dominant. A video like this on him would be awesome!

For me rally drivers are the best in the world and for me Loeb is the best driver to have ever lived. While he did play apart in the WRC downfall in the mid 2000s a lot of OEMs also pulled out too and that really didn't help anyone.

Also you have to consider that rally drivers compete in 3 types of surfaces instead of 1 like F1. And it's not a lot of them that are good in all 3. That's why guys like Loeb, Sainz, Makinen are up there.

Good stuff dude, it had to be said, I can remember seeing Loeb driving in his first years in WRC at the pub, turned to a mate and said this guy is going to be good. The speed He used to carry through the high speed corners was mind blowing and it was just so consistently smooth.

I have to mention Tazio Nuvolari, as he was also a rather successful motorcycle racer. And obviously, John Surtees: F1 champion AND 7 times motorcycle grand prix world champion (if you only count 500cc (which, I think, is the wrong thing to do), there are still 4 titles). I also have to include Jimmie Johnson: he started with winning motocross races, he then jumped into trucks winning championships, then he went to NASCAR and won 83 races (more than Dale Earnhardt) and 7 championships in the Cup Series; if he somehow manages to win an Indycar race on a road course, or the Indy 500, then he HAS to be mentioned. Dude's in his late 40s and never raced an open wheel single seater before 2021. And how I could forget Stephan Peterhansel, AKA Mister Dakar?

I too was one that stopped following the WRC and I distinctively remember when. Halfway through the 2008 season when Loeb won Rally Finland. Even then I believe Ford had the better gravel car. They had two of the best Finns in the sport, Latvala and Hirvonen. The rally is famous for being dominated by the Scandinavian drivers. Yet Loeb won it and beat them both that year. French rally drivers in the WRC were always superb on the asphalt rallies. But it was Loeb that managed to consistently improve on gravel. And he did it with this super smooth and calm driving style, almost as if on asphalt. The Citroen was built very specifically to this style of his - very forward biased almost tarmac build. And he drove it to perfection. Just sideways enough to overcome the lack of grip but always keeping forward momentum. If you look at telemetry from him back in the day you will be amazed. Every braking zone he would just be inch perfect. He had these really intricate pacenotes too where if I recall the corners were read out in degrees of angle and many commentators then would say that had been a much more objective system and especially important for differing weather and road conditions. There's one onboard of him that I still remember. WRC Rally Ireland 2007 SS5 Geevagh. Halfway through stages he gets out on an open part where its 150kph+ and there's dense fog about 3-4 car lengths ahead. He never lets off and even corrects his pacenotes whilst going full pelt in the fog. Remarkable driver.

Hello Aidan: Thank you for this. For years, I have had huge respect for rallying. They have to drive all surfaces, in all weathers, in huge temperature ranges, both day and night. That is amazing. Stay safe and well.

It is impossible to discuss the greatest drivers of all time without including rally drivers. As much as I love formula one I can't claim many, if any f1 drivers could match loeb as a driver

Loeb made WRC comeback at 47 in Monte Carlo 2022. He went straight on the pace on Monte Carlo first stage outing to secondly from his nemesis, other GOAT candidate and his compatriot Ogier. Nothing holding back his glory days speed at this age because his speed at glory days was genuine. The pace of old Loeb - Citroen combined isn’t massively came from the car only, but Loeb pace was there in genuine. One thing even more impressive is Loeb was always be Citroen man. He drove a Hyundai in 2020. New team and straight on the pace. 2 years later having grab recently runner up spot in Dakar, He then drove a M-Sport in 2022. Once again new car, new team, and OC new rule to adapt first before finding pace. He still went straight on the pace to his nemesis Ogier the reigning world champion. GOAT drivers can adapt to any car in short time. It seems age is just a number in 4 wheels Motorsport racing. Being 47 wouldn’t make you lost your genuine speed from your old-time glory days, unless the pace from your car had massively advantage to others in the past.

the best thing now a days to compare all type of drivers is the race of champions, but many people don't know about this "special" event , but is a event with a lot of history ( is a cool idea for a video)

I'm no motor head but that pikes peak run in the Peugeot 208 gives me chills every time I see it. I would go far as to say it's one of the greatest sporting moments..

Watching loeb drive in the world rallycross championship you see just how good he is at on track battle especially against the likes of john kristofferson and peter Solberg, the hansen brothers, erikson and so on all formidable drivers

If you ask me, Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Clark stand as a kind of motorsport holy trinity on top.

Sebastian was for me the greatest ever dtiver from all of motorsport. He was genial in all weather and road conditions in the WRC for 9 years running thats just insanity. Add his Pikes Peake run as well which was astonishing.

Great video Ade. Sebastian's spatial awareness is beyond comparison. But I don't know how that would translate into a modern F1 car. I would certainly rank him as one of the greatest drivers of all time. I never got bored watching him drive. He like Lewis are amazing to watch. They both have incredible awareness/reflexes and are very smooth in their driving styles respectively.

I have always held the rallying greats as the best drivers in the world. Loeb was so surgical in his era to the point that I considered him the greatest driver of all time when he was still on his way up. It's amazing that he was able to win last weekend. I do think that the Jack-of-all-trades drivers do deserve special consideration in any GOAT driver conversation. Especially in eras where drivers didn't live to be 40 very often. If Loeb did anything in his dominant years, he drove so well for Citroen that almost all of the major manufacturers dropped out of the sport as factory teams. Mitsubishi stopped making the Evo altogether, Ford and Subaru stopped having official rally teams along the way. And in their absence, eventually Loeb's absence, Ogier was there with what remained and has been equally dominant, in whatever was available. Hell even Citroen is gone now. I think the reason the WRC has failed to showcase its drivers as the best in the world is the unconventional manner in which the stages are run. It's rough for television to mostly have in car cameras, and most of the show not actually being a live broadcast. But the skill of a sport's competitors should not be dictated by its media presence.

Before Loeb there was Walter Rohrl who was so good, that he won Monte in 4 different cars, won Pikes Peak. Was last WRC winner who won championship in begining of 4WD era with RWD car. Competed in IMSA and DTM and is responsible of how all great Porsche cars of last 30 or so years drive.

How about a video on the most dangerous motor vehicles to ever race. The 500cc two stroke motorcycles.

For my money he's at the absolute pinnacle of ability for car control. It's not just how many titles he won but how easy he made it look on the way, and wasn't like he didn't have some decent competition along the way. I remember seeing him have an accident in Australia one year and being absolutely amazed because I couldn't remember him crashing in something like the previous 4 years. He even won as a 'privateer' one year when Citroen decided there was no need to update their car.

Considering the man came out of retirement to drive an all new rally car, went toe to toe with the current world champion who is also his protégé and win the Monte Carlo rally at the age of 47. Yes. His other multi disciplinary racing and 3 RoC titles (beating Schumacher and Vettel in identical machinery) just go to show it as well.

Here's my postcard Aidan : Loeb is certainly up there with his variety of classes/formulae where he won but so is Jim Clark who won in sports cars and the British Saloon Car championship as well as F1 and 2. One name that hasn't been mentioned is that of Sir Stirling Moss who would have been World Champion, twice, missing out by 1 point each time. He would race everything and anything and hauled some very dubious machinery into the winner's circle because of his prodicious talent.

Fantastic video. Worth pointing out that Ogier is only part time this year so will not be able to equal the 9 championships. Again, great video.

i just realized i want to see you in a podcast i think that would be really interesting and fun maybe with aldas he's another motorsport knowledge freak

We might bring up Jacky Ickx just because he raced with everything.

Couldve used richard burns rally sim for the showcase btw But great video 👍❤️

About the only guy who I've ever known personally was involved in racing professionally at a high level wasn't a driver, but was a manager for the racing division of one of the big tire companies. So he was involved in all kinds of racing series, from NASCAR to Sprint Cars to CART/Indy Racing and even in his younger days had done time in Europe and Formula One. I asked him who he thought were the best drivers and he didn't even hesitate. He said "World Rally". So even though I don't really follow rally much (not easy to follow in the US), I've always taken his word for it. If Loeb is the greatest rally driver, that might make him THE greatest driver. And I found this very easy to accept after his performances at Pike's Peak.

Like most racing classes in the 2000s I started switching off when manufacturers started pulling out, my memory of Loeb is him in his first few seasons, I was unaware he took so many titles

Your on track with your list, + inclusions at end. Spot on.

I appreciated the Hockey references/comparisons!

I'm probably a bit biased on this one, but I think that Fangio's career outside F1 is criminally underrated, specially the years before moving to Europe. I mean, just hearing about the absolute madness of racing on dirt roads from Buenos Aires to Caracas is almost impossible to comprehend, still is barely mentioned.

I'd argue hes the greatest, im sure he was as quick as the f1 drivers of the time when he went up against them, plus he thrashed Jensen button in that extreme E championship driving for lewis hamiltons team, for the fact hes come back and in all fairness beat the current wrc 8time champion ogier with a car that was on the most part slower than the toyotas (he had a better road position on the friday when he whooped everyone) at 47years old with only 1 test in the car, he has to be top of the pile..... he will never agree to that though, in a video interview he did when he retired he stated categorically that he thought colin mcrae was the greatest rally driver he ever went up against. P.S Aiden, ogier has retired end of last season as he doesnt want to beat loebs record, hes only contesting 4rallys including monte this season, rumour has it that loeb will now go head to head with him on the remaining 3rallys hes to compete in, it is literally just for banter at this point

on that note, please can you do a Storytime of when Senna went to do a day or two of rallying in 1986, with various cars? pretty sure he did a few Group B ones!

He's so good, I literally named myself after him.

Currently forced to stay in bed because of nausea when standing. this video took me out of the spiral for a good while so thank you for the emmersive discussion based video.

He has an amazing argument in his favour. Specially considering how he won championships even when his car wasn't the best (2006-07, when Ford actually beat Citroen and Marcus Gronholm almost beat Seb in his final year in '07, after missing out the previous year due to crashing out in Australia, in a year where Loeb could've won it with even more rallies to go despite driving for the non factory Kronos team due to Citroen being out before they came in with the C4). Still, he has against him the fact that he couldn't get it done in WTCC and the World Rallycross Championship. But for me it could perfectly be compensated if he finally breaks through to win his first Dakar Rally.

He's done rally, touring cars, and won the Race of Champions multiple times. Possibly one of the best all rounders, with old school names like Moss and Clark, as well as contemporaries like Tom Kristensen. Plus 9 championships in a row, by an individual. In motorsport, that has a chance of not being repeated. I mentioned this on Fan Voice, that the only example I could think of for uninterrupted championships in another sport is snooker's OG Joe Davis winning the first 15 World Championships in a row, and even that comes with caveats - some of them were invitational rather than tournament in those days, and the Second World War came between titles 14 and 15. The other sport I watch on TV is sumo wrestling, and its record is 'only' 7 in a row, which due to how its calendar works, means winning every top flight title for a full year and a bit. In motorsport terms, you could say 'Ascari-ing it', I guess? Loeb definitely is in that elevated category, he's been part time and full time, and he still wins. Il est magnifique, as they say in Alsace. It was tough watching him in Extreme E, because he was driving for Hamilton's team, so I didn't want him to win, but he's Sebastien Loeb, so I did want him to win, too. Yeesh. Edit: Joe, not Fred, got the wrong brother...

Just recently discovered your channel and I have been enjoying it. I always felt the rally drivers are the best just because of the fact they need to deal with the elements that change constantly. Loeb needs to be in any conversation of best driver along with NASCAR drivers like Jimmy Johnson. Any driver who is at the top of their chosen discipline deserves it and should not be discounted just because it is not F1.

I think there's also another factor; specialization. Back in the 1960s, when Clark was competing most drivers were multidiscipline drivers. His death in an F2 race and Bellof's death much later in a Group C kinda put a stop to most top F1 drivers going to other disciplines. The lack of incentive did the rest. Nowadays, the quality of driving (whether most people like it or not) has gotten higher and there's more specialization in every discipline than there ever was in the past. So, in some ways, Loeb just turning up and winning races and podiums in such a wide range of motorsport like WTCC, GT3, Le Mans, Dakar all while having steamrolled the competition in WRC for nearly a decade (in one Corsica rally he won every. single. stage) definitely qualifies him as the greatest in my eyes. And anything he does now is a bonus, both for him and for all of us.

"they are just turning left" "they just drive sedans in country roads one by one" as pointless it is to compare racing disciplines to another, it would be quite easy to argue rallying is the toughest because there's so litle room for error yet the drivers only really get the recce to prepare some really gnarly circumstances.

Based on his dominance of an elite Motorsport series he absolutely belongs in the conversation. I also think that the diversity of car control skills and um… balls… required for success in rallying should factor in too. I like that you included Andretti as well. Not just because of his performance at his peak but the longevity and range of cars, series, locations he has success at is kind boggling. Daytona 500, Indy 500 win and competitive drivers well into his 40s and a Formula 1 title even though he spent most of his F1 career as a part timer? Very impressive.

A key element in Loeb's success is the fact he was an international level gymnast. The ability to analyse and control the movement of every muscle in his body is not irrelevant in a motor sport context. I have a firm belief that the place to look for the commercial holy grail of Motorsport (a successful female F1 driver) is to seek talent in the vast pool of retired female Olympic gymnasts. Their dedication, physical courage and resilience is unquestioned if you understand what they put themselves through to achieve that level. All contained in tiny physical package that would be an F1 designer's dream.

You are right about the snobbery regarding F! drivers, but the driving skills of Rally drivers are clear to see (but it receives very little TV coverage). especially as non racing drivers, virtually everyone, love driving on the type of roads they drive on, but would be doing them at a vastly reduced speed, and no car control on the gravel/dirt/ice conditions with a cliff edge or random farm house right on the edge of the road. The number of stages in each event is eye watering (including having to drive a possible damaged car to the start of the next one), let alone number of events. I used to love watching it when it was more accessible. The stats are amazing, one WRC is brill, but so many in a row, can't just be car reliability. BTW love the footage of your rally skills, visually good and kept it on the road, don't know how competitive your were though...

Haven't even got past the intro music, but yes, very much yes.

I don't think there are too many questioning whether he is the best driver of all time. He started his rallying career with a unique (at the time) driving style which helped him win everything. He won every rally in the juniors. He showed his insane speed from the very first rally at the top level, finishing 2nd. He won his 2nd rally at Monte, but he was pushed to 2nd because of a silly penalty and 1st place went to Tommi Makinen. Then Loeb barely missed out on the overall championship in his first full season and won all 9 after. It's not like he didn't race against amazing drivers either. He won vs Makinen, Solberg, Gronholm, McRae, Hirvonen, etc. He was fast when he tested an F1 car, but was pushed away from it because he lacked the required experience in the sport (lol). When he was done with WRC, he went on to become a touring car driver and won a bunch of races, finishing 3rd in both of his seasons. Then he went to do rally cross and despite having an inferior car got 17 podiums, including 2 wins. He came back to do a few rallies here and there. He won an incredible rally Spain in 2018 at age 44. Did his signature backflip. Hyundai signed him on for a few events in the next couple of years. He adapted to their wonky car, but driving it didn't feel all that natural to him, so he got a couple of 3rd places and a few middling results. Some questioned if he still had it. Well, this year over the course of 5 weeks he: got 2nd at the Dakar (ultimately with more championship points than Al-Attiyah), then after these grueling 2 weeks of desert racing went straight to do Monte and won that in a car he had barely tested with a 50-year-old math teacher lady as a co-driver (he did do his backflip as usual, now at 47), then as the cherry on top went on to win Race of Champions last week. So is Loeb the greatest driver? Yes, yes he is.

For me it is, it always has been for me since I was a child. Winning the WRC 9 times, IN A ROW + winning your WRC re-debuts takes more than good skill. Add to that getting a Pike's Peak first attemp win and track record plus some temarkable results in touring car racing and endurance and no one, NO ONE can cast a shadow on his career. By miles ahead the fastest and most talented human behind a wheel to ever live.

I think he is, yeah. Especially considering his background. My own national perspective says Andretti and SuperTex need to be in the conversation, too.

If you could put any F1 champion against any top level rally driver in a decathlon of racing disciplines, my money is on the rally driver every time.

I want to see Leon race the rally equivalent of 1960 or 1980s F1 cars…..group B. Not in a photoshoot Sunday driver either, but full balls out. That would be something to behold

Watching this just after watching the ROC :)

I stopped watching rally around the same time as you. Was a massive Peter Solberg fan. Burnsy was always my second car. I do recall how utterly dominant Loeb was, and how astounding it was given the spectacle of the close competition in previous years. Did loads for Citroen as well, before that they weren't the same force as they became. Before Loeb it looked like Ford and Peugeot would fill the void left by the decline of Subaru and Mitsubishi

Mario Andretti is a guy who among Europeans, at least, seems to get short shrift in spite of having an insanely long career and actually being a F1 world champion. I consistently see him ignored when it comes to lists of top American racing drivers despite the long list of accomplishments in F1, Indycar, stock cars, sports cars, and even being an overall winner at Pikes Peak. As for the question at hand, Loeb is the best wheelman of my lifetime. The challenge I have with him is he was so dominant for so long and did so in a sport where head to head competition was rare, and so we never have that moment like Rossi going around the outside in the last corner of the 2009 Catalan GP. It appeared effortless to him to do something that was so intensely dangerous and difficult that a F1 world title contender in Robert Kubica's career was effectively ended trying to do it. One last thing: Auto racing tends to be like boxing where the olden eras of the sport are treated as fantasies. When Jim Clark won the World Drivers Championship, he did so in an F1 season that consisted of no more than 10 races. He raced in other series as a necessity because at the time there were no gigantic contracts and huge corporate sponsors in F1, and these series tended to be domestic level series with domestic level competition. That's not to say that being the 1964 BTCC champion isn't good or impressive, but how much more impressive is it compared to being the 1964 USAC Stock Car champion? The latter counts for almost nothing today in spite of being a major series in it's era with manufacturer support and hall of fame racers in it like Foyt, Andretti, the Unsers, and Parnelli Jones. This is only exacerbated the further you go back. I have no doubt that Tazio Nuvolari or Bernd Rosemeyer were great, but understanding proper perspective of what was happening at the time is shaky at best from current historians much less casual fans. The pre-war drivers also get a bum rap from modern fans because there was no world driving championship to win.

I really like running analogy. Who's the best ever athlete in running - the one who mastered sprints or the champion of marathons? You see, sprints and marathons are both about running, but practically sprinters and long-distance athletes need different skillsets to win in their categories. They're a world apart. The case with racing and rallying in the same. Both are about driving cars, but practically these are different disciplines. You can't simply compare athletes, who do different sports. In the case of Sebastien Loeb, he's the greatest rally driver of all times. At his peak, he was head and shoulders above anyone else and he enjoyed a longevity of success. Loeb was basically forced into retirement with the rise of "Panzerwagens", by which I mean the arrival of Volkswagen with a cosmic budget and close-to-unbreakable cars in 2013. They made Sebastien Ogier the new Loeb by having him a as testing driver for a year and then giving him a WRC equivalent of a rocket ship. Loeb tried his hand in racing: prototypes (Le Mans), GT cars (2013), touring cars (2014-15) or rallycross (2016-18). He was impressively competitive everywhere he went, but everywhere was bested by someone else. If you simply take his WTCC stint - Lopez and Muller who beat him to the championship, are faster racing drivers. There can't be a debate that they outcompeted Loeb. So here's the answer how Loeb would compare in racing against people who always raced cars. He could keep up with them, but not win against everyone.

The only true way to define that is to bring back and mainstream something like what the AMA Grand National used to be, where the best motorcyclist in the country raced across the multiple disciplines throughout the season. I had a similar discussion in terms of John McGuiness of Isle of Mann fame. He's won what many tout as the most difficult motorcycle race on the planet so many times. Granted his performance on Real Roads outshines what he's done on purpose built race tracks, as there is a mentality that he's had to develop in terms of chasing the limit that riders who only race closed circuits never had to develop.

Yep, Jimmy was the best. Tom Kristensen is a good call too. It’s fun watching him make everyone look ordinary when he attends the Goodwood Revival.

Don't know if anyone's informed you here, but i cant be arsed to scroll. But Seb Loeb was testing that msport all through december with the team, took them up to a private strech near his too for testing... That was a week or so before he placed second at the dakar. This man is 47 years old and is killing the off beaten paths still. What a machine

I always put Kankkunen up there as greatest of all time material. Mostly because I remember watching Rally racing for the first time in the 90s and some reason always remembered him. Also Group B was fucking scary.

Remember, Seb finished P2 overall at Le Mans in 2006, placed P8 out of 17 drivers during F1 test at Barcelona 2008, won 4 races in FIA GT in 2013, and decimated the entire JWRC field in 2001 on events where he joined. Absolute legend.

Been watching motor sports of every type since the 80s and have had the pleasure of seeing some of the greatest driving by some of the greatest drivers. But when I first seen Loeb in the 1997 Cévennes rally in a Peugeot 106 on Euro Sports. I knew I was watching something special. And over the years his ability has proven to me that this is the best driver I have seen. Yet being the best doesn't always make you the best over all. There is more to a driver than just winning it can be how they drive, Colin Mcrae . How they entertain, Nigel Mansell. Or a bit of everything Carl Fogarty.

Amazed of that part about Premier League, considering results of GB teams in International competitions

“Like he’s plugged into the FACKING Matrix!”?!!! My favorite line from you Aiden LMFAO!!!

underrated pick for this question: Montoya. he won: - F3000 - champ car championship - 2 indy500 wins (including most laps ever led by a rookie) - 7 wins in f1 - 3 wins in NASCAR, 2 of which were in the cup series - 2nd in indycar as recent as 2015 - Race of Champions 2017 - IMSA championship - Daytona 24hr (3 times) - Le mans podium (3rd LMP2 entry in 2018)

the fact he drove Le mans , GT ,Dakar & now the extreme series ,come back does a handful of testing for M sport then wins (with a little fortune ) in2022 i'd say this guy is a top5 driver of all time & is the only non F1 driver to be a top of Autosport's driver of the year over the time run

Lobe is definitely up there, his exploits in the World Rallycross Championship weren’t too shabby either.

I question if the Race of Champions is a level playing field for the broad range of motorsport. True, the competitors do have the same equipement and driving the same track. But in my mind Race of Champions events are always a bit rally-stage oriented. There should be adding some more disciplines (karting and 5km track lay-out) next to the the small, narrow and twisty stages it contains. I think each racing category can have it's own legend. And if that legend excels is also other categories, it's a legend in a new category (A+B). As we can't compare periods in history, both technically and equal on chances (let alone all the talents we lost prematurely), legends are made by their fans (and statistics only support those). For example, I guess the majority of you all count Gilles Villeneuve as legend by his driving style, while statistically he's at the backend of the Top50 F1 drivers of all time.

I'm barely a minute or two into the video, so I'm not sure you'll bring it up, but the fact he won Monte Carlo after just basically showing up a little bit after Dakar at the AGE OF 47 (and did a standing backflip on the podium) is a testament to his massive athletic and driving skill. He's been out of the rally game for almost a decade, and comes back into the new electric-hybrid era and just sends it and takes the win. I'm not sure if he's the GOAT driver, but it may just be that nobody nearly as good as him has shown up to WRC events to truly challenge him (outside of perhaps Ogier).

About the F1 pedigree, did you know Loeb almost joined Redbull F1 team in 2008 ? He was a testdrive pilote for them that year, and in his first ever try out (first time he was racing a bloody F1 car), he ranked 8 out off 16 drivers. There were serious discussions around him driving in both WRC and F1 that year, because Redbull thougt it was good press to have the rally world champion on their team. But after a crash and an engine failure in WRC, his first place was in joepardy. So him and his team decided to focus on WRC, rejecting Redbull's offer. Funny story ! SOrry for my bad english, and thank you for your nice video

Easily one of. And there is a Valid argument for the best ever. Great job as always Aidan

If versatility is your primary criteria for greatness, I agree. But is that more important than dominance? What about longevity? Start/win ratio? Something that considers the competitiveness of the car they drive, etc.? Any other criteria apart from championship trophies?

I would place Carlos sainz SR very high as well, that bloke was always in the fight for the title in wrc, he won Dakar, competes in extreme e.

How would you compare Loeb to someone like Röhrl from a viewpoint of eye-test, not achievements? I'm not experienced enough to see, if the two drivers are comparable in terms of skill, or if it is even possible to compare them due to differences in eras/cars/etc. or not. Either way, the video was great!

Гонки WRC смотрю с 2000х Leb классный,рад его видеть победителем в Монако.

Loeb was the greatest, but nobody got me more exited like Colin did. His style was just spectacular!!! Rest in piece. ❤

I read somewhere that Gilles Villeneuve was driving anything with an engine, including winning the World Championship for snowmobiles. How does he stack up? Pleased to hear that you mentioned Tom Kristensen, a fellow Dane. He is up there too.

Loeb^s Pikes Peak run says it all, I would like to see Hamilton try and do something like that.

Ogier is retired. He’s basically doing a Loeb now and turning up for Banter. Won’t be returning until at least Portugal because he’ll be low enough in the championship to capitalise on road position.

I think he's the greatest and still going strong. Although he might have to take it easy and start doing LMP 24-hour endurance races in a few years, now that he's getting older, but he still has another 20 years left in him. He's definitely my favorite driver of all time, and I like his rally game best of them all.

Yes.