Video comparison: Sebastien Loeb vs. Sebastien Ogier

Absolutely great piece of footage from Rallye Monte Carlo, showing two Sebastiens doing what they do best. Okay, so there is no Ogier showing some of his other skills, but never mind. Instead of pushing the drama queen image to the limits, he adopted much better stance of just refusing to answer certain questions, while at the same time staring the reporter down. But I digress!

In this video we can, to some extent, see why and how Sebastien Loeb was able to build up such an advantage in Monte Carlo. Of course, there were other factors at play, one of which is Sebastien Ogier’s car – it may be competitive, but is it competitive enough to beat Citroën, driven by experienced driver, it’s hard to say.

What this video shows quite well is the difference in driving styles. Loeb’s style is more controlled, with less sliding, while at the same time Ogier is more flamboyant, and brings even more speed into corners but spends a bit more time controlling that speed by sliding. Loeb is driving with utmost precision, and Ogier looked a bit more willing to sacrifice some of the precision to be able to use slides to steer. Ultimately, this may as well be the way he is most comfortable with, but it can also mean the car was set up to require such driving style to get most from the tires and conditions.

Oh, by the way, that Polo R WRC looks like DTM car with it’s low and wide stance. Not to mention the vents.