World Rally Championship 2010

[NotThePrez]

^ That's one way of putting it! Haven't been following the WRC too much now, especially since SPEED no longer broadcasts it, but it was quite a surprise hearing about this. Hopefully Petter can find someone real good.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I hope he keeps beating Loeb.

I hope he goes to Ford next season - because otherwise, it's going to be really boring watching Citroen vs. Citroen.

 

[Prince.M5]

Solberg is still 3rd, 6.5 seconds behind Dani Sordo after Stage 12.. He's been looking good after setting the fastest time for Stage 11. Looks like he's chasing after Sordo but I'm starting to get bored 5 years Loeb being at the front dominating it. He has 33.4 seconds lead over Dani...

 

[mr_VOLCANO]

I don't think it's a mental problem or problem with their speed. I think it's simply that Citroen is a better car than Ford. That margin doesn't need to be big, but when it is in there and such a great driver as Loeb driving with Citroen, Ford drivers have to push their cars over the limit to keep up and that's what causes those mistakes. (Well, Latvala can make mistakes even without pushing it over the limit ) Difference could be only 0.1-0.2s/km, but that's enough when you are driving against as good drivers as Citroen has. In Mexico Ford actually said that their car weren't on the same level with Citroen's in there, but probably that is the case in other rallies too with smaller difference.

The reason why I think so, is not about Loeb being fast. He is superb fast everywhere. But when Sordo and Ogier (both developing very well and fast drivers too, but still...) start to beat Hirvonen and Latvala hands down on gravel which should be their specialty, it made me wonder.

Thing that makes this situation boring, is that Ford drivers can't challenge Citroen for the championship. And Citroen won't let Sordo/Ogier challenge Loeb. So only one who can even somewhat challenge Loeb is Solberg, but there is still many tarmac rallies to come and I don't think he has resources to challenge Loeb in the end. So it's becoming very boring season alltogether For me the interesting part of this season is to see if they let Sordo or Ogier win some rallies and how will Ogier, Kimi and Ken develop. Let's hope there will be more manufacturers next season.

I think you made some god points there! Loeb is a very good driver, but I think many who dont know so much about WRC thinks that he is better then he is beacase of the Citroen team/car is so damn good.

 

[Small_Fryz]

WRC needs to get better fan coverage to increase its popularity so manufacters will enter. Sort out a good class and rules, so we can have good feeder events and aim to have more equal ish type cars on the grid.

Get some Mitsu, Subaru, Ford, Citroen, Toyota and make it enticing for the fans and manufacters to watch/compete.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Well, Prodrive are supposedly looking to enter next year, and they know how to run a team. But I think what the WRC needs before they go getting additional manufacturers is to generate some competition between the existing ones. Right now, everyone is looking at Loeb and figuring that he's too good. Look at the way he dominated in Bulgaria.

 

[chepe371]

Solberg is still 3rd, 6.5 seconds behind Dani Sordo after Stage 12.. He's been looking good after setting the fastest time for Stage 11. Looks like he's chasing after Sordo but I'm starting to get bored 5 years Loeb being at the front dominating it. He has 33.4 seconds lead over Dani...

Is it Loeb's domination or do others just need to step their game up?

You don't come at the champ with anything less than everything ,a good setup, a good recce good shakedown then total focus and nailing +90% of the stage.

Sure i miss the days of the 3-4 heavyweights battling it out stage after stage with a hair seperating them.

The way i see it, todays WRC is nurturing the newer drivers into heavyweight status, Ogier, Raikkonen, are already on Loebs tail with not much experience but give them a year or 2 and theyll be door to door.

When the other drivers really step it up, we'll probably see Loeb doing better than ever just to keep up and avoid complacency.

 

[Prince.M5]

Is it Loeb's domination or do others just need to step their game up?

You don't come at the champ with anything less than everything ,a good setup, a good recce good shakedown then total focus and nailing +90% of the stage.

Sure i miss the days of the 3-4 heavyweights battling it out stage after stage with a hair seperating them.

The way i see it, todays WRC is nurturing the newer drivers into heavyweight status, Ogier, Raikkonen, are already on Loebs tail with not much experience but give them a year or 2 and theyll be door to door.

When the other drivers really step it up, we'll probably see Loeb doing better than ever just to keep up and avoid complacency.

Loeb's domination is one thing. But others also have to step up their game too which in the case where everyone is doing currently.. Sure Miko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti and others are all catching him up so absolutely what you said in a year or two they all could challenge him.

Clearly Loeb has the experience, skills and such but I think 50% of his domination pretty much depends on the car itself. He had such a great car and Citroen is very good team.

I'm not going to put a blame on him for being fast everytime but it's making rally boring for 5 straight years...

 

[homeforsummer]

WRC needs to get better fan coverage to increase its popularity so manufacters will enter. Sort out a good class and rules, so we can have good feeder events and aim to have more equal ish type cars on the grid.

Get some Mitsu, Subaru, Ford, Citroen, Toyota and make it enticing for the fans and manufacters to watch/compete.

It's a catch 22 because rallying needs the audiences to entice manufacturers in, but they also need the manufacturers to enter and provide some good competition for the people to watch.

WRC's main problem is expense. To build a top car costs a fortune. Even when you do, you then need to find someone good enough to beat Loeb or your only ever competing for second place. Rallying is another sport that's become too technologically advanced, to it's detriment. I'm not sure whether the S2000 regs will improve things much.

It needs to be simplified. Bring back Group A regulations and ditch WRC and S2000 specs. Run JWRC next to it, and run Group N next to that. The main spectacle needs to be brought closer to cars with less variations from the road-going cars. It's cheaper, and theres more of a "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" affect. It's why the Subaru Impreza has the legendary reputation it does - because back in the mid nineties you could buy a road car that to all intents and purposes was pretty similar to the cars McRae and Sainz were batting around in.

 

[Prince.M5]

Rally Bulgaria won by Sebastien Loeb and 2nd place belongs to Dani Sordo to make it Citroen 1-2.

Looks to me like Petter Solberg is back up to shape with a 3rd place podium finish. Been a fan of him since 2005 and yet to win any from 2005 onwards. It won't be a surprise if he can get a win but I feel great to see him got his pace and rythm back

Not to forget, Kimi Raikkonen finished in 11th... He seems to be forgotten ever since he left F1... Tell me if I'm wrong

 

[gtracedriver]

Citreon seems to be much superior to Ford. What are the reasons for that ?

 

[Tommi]

Citreon seems to be much superior to Ford. What are the reasons for that ?

I think it's mainly to do with the drivers. Ford has got the car to win(I believe) but suffer many poor results or retirements due to driver error.

Just look at Citroen's #1 driver Sébastien Loeb, the past couple of years he has nearly always finished on the podium and only had a small handful of DNF's. Don't get me wrong, Mikko Hirvonen is a great driver but he lacks the experience and consistency of Loeb, and because Citroen employ the most experienced and successful driver in the sport they have the best person to help them test and develop the car. As for Sébastien Ogier we know he has even less experience than Hirvonen and Latvala in a WRC car but he's essentially being mentored by his idol - Loeb, currently the best individual to learn from and share techniques with.

Now for the cars, the C4 is obviously very good, if you look at how much Petter Solberg's performance improved after he got hold of a C4 WRC you'll understand what i'm on about. The Focus can keep up with the C4 and sometimes better it when the drivers are 'fast' though as we saw on several occasions last season and a few so far in 2010.
This may or may not have anything to do with the success of Citroen but i'm going to mention it anyway. The MKII Focus WRC (aside from improvements) has competitively ran for roughly 5 years, whereas the C4 WRC (in its revived form) is about 3-4 years old. In the time Citroen were not participating they had the opportunity to examine their competitors' car. Also, during development, Citroen had Carlos Sainz - a multiple World Rally champion and former Ford man as their main test driver.

I could go on, but I feel i've said enough.

 

[vompatti]

@Tommi,

I'm not going to post everything again, so please check out my post on the first page first. Post #6.

I do think that the biggest factor (besides Loeb) is the car. I think that the difference has grown between the cars since I posted that. C4 indeed is superior to the Focus. Even the Ford team has agreed on this, so I don't see any reason to pull all the blame on Ford pilots (well, I do have to say that I don't see any reason why Wilson is in a WRC team..). Of course we don't know the reason, even M-Sport don't know it, that's why they are so frustrated. They suspect that it has to do something with the gearbox (Focus 5-speed against C4 6-speed), Citroen's higher revving engine and the suspension. Latvala said under last rally, that the car wobbles, it's like it's too soft. But if they tighten the suspension, it looses all the grip. So they can't get a good balance for some reason for the suspension. Also, Focus seems to be hard to drive on asphalt, as Henning was saying at the last rally how the Fiesta handles superb compared to Focus on the asphalt.

 

[Ardius]

I do get the sneaking suspicion that if there were more than 2 manufacturers, Ford would be closer to the bottom. I mean, its quite telling when all the Citroen junior drivers are doing so well now . Not that Ogier isn't that good but really (he is), it is a bit silly when the Fords are getting so badly beaten by anyone in a Citroen.

 

[Prince.M5]

It's just that the Citroen is a very fast car to the Ford. Citroen has been really good with their Xsara and with the C4 + the higly skilled and experienced drivers line up especially Sebastien Loeb that ensure their success. Dani Sordo's speciality is that he's very good in tarmac rally and others like Sebastien Ogier are working their way up!

Look at Petter Solberg now and how he was in the Subaru. He seems to be getting faster with the easier to drive C4.

Ford is just the only team that can get closer to Citroen but they're still a tad away from them. Their cars seems to not working on most tarmac rally like vompatti said. We'll just have to wait and see if they can beat the Citroens and be the Champion but I doubt it until they can solve their current problems...

Wish to have more cars in rally and a comeback of Subaru and Mitsubishi into WRC would be awesome!

 

[Tommi]

@Tommi,

I'm not going to post everything again, so please check out my post on the first page first. Post #6.

I do think that the biggest factor (besides Loeb) is the car. I think that the difference has grown between the cars since I posted that. C4 indeed is superior to the Focus. Even the Ford team has agreed on this, so I don't see any reason to pull all the blame on Ford pilots (well, I do have to say that I don't see any reason why Wilson is in a WRC team..). Of course we don't know the reason, even M-Sport don't know it, that's why they are so frustrated. They suspect that it has to do something with the gearbox (Focus 5-speed against C4 6-speed), Citroen's higher revving engine and the suspension. Latvala said under last rally, that the car wobbles, it's like it's too soft. But if they tighten the suspension, it looses all the grip. So they can't get a good balance for some reason for the suspension. Also, Focus seems to be hard to drive on asphalt, as Henning was saying at the last rally how the Fiesta handles superb compared to Focus on the asphalt.

Ok, but i'd like to see some evidence to back this up.👍 The only issues with the Focus that i've heard are that it is significantly slower for some reason at high altitiude events such as Mexico and the most recent, Bulgaria. M-Sport are currently developing a new part which can supposedly enable them to beat the Citroens. Link
You can't really use the Fiesta as a comparison to the Focus either, as it is a different spec car.

Back to my point. At the beginning of the season the team made a strong start, in Sweden (a surface they both like) Hirvonen won and Latvala finished third. Hirvonen finished third in Turkey and Latvala won in New Zealand. Also Latvala finished second behind Loeb in Jordan. Showing the car is capable of outperforming the Citroens.
Most, if not all of the accidents and retirements this season for the Ford drivers have occured as a result of driver error. For example Mikko Hirvonen's crash at rally Jordan this year. If you listen to him at the end, he admits it was his fault, nothing about pushing too hard or car problems.



I support the Ford drivers and I really want Mikko to win the world championship, but as we've seen these last couple of years he just isn't as fast as Loeb. I don't like talking about him in this way, but it is the unfortunate truth. Even if you put Mikko in a Citroen, I believe he still would be unable to beat Loeb.

 

[vompatti]

Ok, but i'd like to see some evidence to back this up.👍

Unfortunately, my links are in finnish.
1st. Mikko's own blog after New Zealand, where he states that they do not know what the problem is, but they are working on trying to find out. He also says how actually Loeb came to him and asked what is wrong.
2nd. Interview with Malcolm Wilson, where he says that they thought that they would be better paced in Bulgaria, but they aren't. Then he says that he doesn't think there is anything they can do during that rally to make them become fast enough to challenge Loeb.
3rd. Latvala speculates that the problems could be the same as in Mexico (gearboax, engine revs and higher altitude).

You can't really use the Fiesta as a comparison to the Focus either, as it is a different spec car.

I didn't do the comparison, Henning did 👍 And you have to feel comfortable with the car, if you want to go fast with it. That's what was Henning's point. He was so happy during the rally driving Fiesta and saying how he could never figure out how Focus should be driven on the tarmac.

Next are purely hearsay, but I've heard that Focus is more of an engineers car and C4 is more of a drivers car. Hearsay again, I've heard that Rovanperä said after trying both cars that C4 was easier car to drive fast and it gripped better. Iirc he also said that Focus was then again better on some things, I think it was with high speed corners. But that test was done couple of years ago.

Back to my point. At the beginning of the season the team made a strong start, in Sweden (a surface they both like) Hirvonen won and Latvala finished third. Hirvonen finished third in Turkey and Latvala won in New Zealand. Also Latvala finished second behind Loeb in Jordan. Showing the car is capable of outperforming the Citroens.
Most, if not all of the accidents and retirements this season for the Ford drivers have occured as a result of driver error. For example Mikko Hirvonen's crash at rally Jordan this year. If you listen to him at the end, he admits it was his fault, nothing about pushing too hard or car problems.

I support the Ford drivers and I really want Mikko to win the world championship, but as we've seen these last couple of years he just isn't as fast as Loeb. I don't like talking about him in this way, but it is the unfortunate truth. Even if you put Mikko in a Citroen, I believe he still would be unable to beat Loeb.

There's the point, on surface they are both strong they were able to challenge C4's. They can take advantage of the surface and bring that in as seconds on the clock. Latvala's win in New Zealand was only due major mistakes of Citroen drivers. Loeb was after all overwhelmingly fast in there. And naturally Mikko agreed that Jordan crash was his mistake, because it was. But mistakes tend to happen, when you try to match speed of another driver who is going beyond your limits. Whether the limit is caused by car or the driver. And btw, in the last phrase you practically state that the C4 is better car than Focus

I don't think that Mikko would be able to challenge Loeb for the championship even if they would have the same car. Loeb is so strong in everything (speed, surfaces, tactics, no mistakes). It's just that I don't like how it's all poured down to drivers, when there is clearly big difference in the cars. And it's not simply possible to handle that difference "with the glove" when you are driving against as talented driver as Loeb is.

Just for the record, this is nothing personal even though it might seem that because I'm arguing against you almost in everywhere. It's just that I don't agree with you that the biggest problem are the drivers. Unless if they can't develop the car at all, then they are the ones to blame for the cars poor competitiveness.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I hope he goes to Ford next season - because otherwise, it's going to be really boring watching Citroen vs. Citroen.

I don't mind Citroen vs. Citroen as long as there are no team orders. Loeb is the Schumacher of the WRC. If Ford favored Mikko last year, he would have won the championship.

I hope he drives for Ford, too. But the first thing they have to do it improve the car. The car is just not fast enough. With a couple of exceptions this year you are almost guaranteed to see 5 Citroens in the top 5 at some point in the rally.

 

[Tommi]

Unfortunately, my links are in finnish.
1st. Mikko's own blog after New Zealand, where he states that they do not know what the problem is, but they are working on trying to find out. He also says how actually Loeb came to him and asked what is wrong.
2nd. Interview with Malcolm Wilson, where he says that they thought that they would be better paced in Bulgaria, but they aren't. Then he says that he doesn't think there is anything they can do during that rally to make them become fast enough to challenge Loeb.
3rd. Latvala speculates that the problems could be the same as in Mexico (gearboax, engine revs and higher altitude).

Thankyou.👍 Like I said in my last post, they knew the car could not win in Bulgaria because of it's poor performance at higher altitude rallies.

I didn't do the comparison, Henning did 👍 And you have to feel comfortable with the car, if you want to go fast with it. That's what was Henning's point. He was so happy during the rally driving Fiesta and saying how he could never figure out how Focus should be driven on the tarmac.

Sorry, I should have phrased what I said a bit better, I didn't mean you as one person, I meant you as a whole. I see his point, but I still do not feel the car is entirely to blame.

Next are purely hearsay, but I've heard that Focus is more of an engineers car and C4 is more of a drivers car. Hearsay again, I've heard that Rovanperä said after trying both cars that C4 was easier car to drive fast and it gripped better. Iirc he also said that Focus was then again better on some things, I think it was with high speed corners. But that test was done couple of years ago.

I've heard that too and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it is true. I guess that would link to my opinion in a way, if the drivers cannot work well with the car then they cannot get into a rhythm and therefore make 'stupid' mistakes.

I doubt myself that Mikko would be able to challenge Loeb for the championship even if they would have the same car. It's just that I don't like how it's all poured down to drivers, when there is clearly big difference in the cars. And it's not simply possible to handle that difference "with the glove" when you are driving against as talented driver as Loeb is.

I'm not pouring it all down to the drivers, I just feel the Ford drivers are not as fast as the Citroen drivers due to experience and skill.

Just for the record, this is nothing personal even though it might seem that because I'm arguing against you almost in everywhere. It's just that I don't agree with you that the biggest problem are the drivers. Unless if they can't develop the car at all, then they are the ones to blame for the cars poor competitiveness.

Same from me and i'm sorry if this post seems hostile. I do agree with you that the car is partly to blame. But I still believe(however wrong I may or may not be) that the drivers are one of the main(but not the only) reasons the Fords are not as fast as their rivals.

 

[gtracedriver]

I do not follow rally much but I thought it is more about driver than car unlike F1

Kimi had not crash he would be ahead of Latvala and I think he will fancy Mikko too in coming asphalt rally's lol. If top4 or 5 will be C4 guys I think it is bad for Ford. They need to find some answers

 

[Ardius]

I do not follow rally much but I thought it is more about driver than car unlike F1

Its neither - its about the team. Motorsports is and always will be about teams. Its not just the car, its not just the driver, its not just the mechanics or the team principals or sponsors. Its about teams as a whole and who gets the most things right.
Loeb and the C4 together are what are so hard to beat, not just one or the other.

If F1 was just about the car, Red Bull should be ahead by miles.

 

[vompatti]

Like I said in my last post, they knew the car could not win in Bulgaria because of it's poor performance at higher altitude rallies.

Actually to be precise, Malcolm said in the interview that before the rally started, they thought that they could do better but after couple of stages he was already ready to say that they aren't simply fast enough to challenge Loeb.

Sorry, I should have phrased what I said a bit better, I didn't mean you as one person, I meant you as a whole. I see his point, but I still do not feel the car is entirely to blame.

Ah, okay. As English is not my native language, it's easy for me to misunderstand.

I've heard that too and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it is true. I guess that would link to my opinion in a way, if the drivers cannot work well with the car then they cannot get into a rhythm and therefore make 'stupid' mistakes.

This is my opinion too. But I guess we see it still bit differently, as I think that it is more of the cars fault if drivers don't feel comfortable with it. Of course now I'm talking a situation where all the drivers (Mikko, JML and Henning) feel that way, not only one driver. That makes me lean towards problems with a car. If it's only one driver, then it's usually personal problem.

I'm not pouring it all down to the drivers, I just feel the Ford drivers are not as fast as the Citroen drivers due to experience and skill.

Compared to Loeb, that's true. The thing that bugs me, is that suddenly Ogier and Sordo started to beat Mikko and JML hands down on gravel. I mean yeah, they are good, but suddenly over night they are that good? I don't buy it.

Same from me and i'm sorry if this post seems hostile. I do agree with you that the car is partly to blame. But I still believe(however wrong I may or may not be) that the drivers are one of the main(but not the only) reasons the Fords are not as fast as their rivals.

Well, maybe we'll find out how things really are in the future. Maybe with new cars, especially if Ogier switches to the Ford (more of this in the end of the post). After all we are both just speculating on the things we have heard and it's not like Ford is going to tell us how things really are. If the car is bad, they wont tell it because it would be terrible marketing and if the drivers are bad they won't tell that either, because it would send a message that they have done wrong decisions on the driver lineup.


I want to add how I see the drivers performance on different surfaces atm. This is naturally only my own opinion and this is speed related. For example JML can drive sick-quick, but on those occasions it's rare that he keeps the car on road.

Tarmac:
Loeb
Sordo
Solberg/Ogier
Hirvonen
Latvala

Gravel (not quite sure if I should put Loeb 1st on his own):
Loeb/Latvala/Solberg/Hirvonen
Ogier
Sordo

Snow:
Hirvonen/Latvala/Solberg
Loeb
Ogier/Sordo



To another topic, rumors of Ogier switching to Ford. Mainly I or many other people don't see any point in this, but however there is one thing. If Citroen is going to be supporting Loeb 100% like it has so far and Ogier knows this. What if he wants to fight for the championship and victories on the next season and Citroen has already told him that they will back up Loeb on the next season too? Malcolm already said that Mikko and JML are going to be driving on the factory team. But maybe he could offer Ogier a contract where he wouldn't need to worry about manu points. Mikko and JML would drive for the manu points and Ogier would be driving on a second team flat out for victories and personal championship without worries of loosing manu points if he retires. I think that could be a win-win situation for M-Sport and a very good opportunity for Ogier too if Fiesta delivers.

But of course it's possible that he is not going anywhere and he is simply trying to race up the price with Ford negotiations. That's probably the most likely option, after all.

 

[gtracedriver]

In WRC I expect Ford to also do much better. They did say they have problem at higher altitude and probably the engine is not as good as C4. But since aero and engine are not most important thing it might be chassis, suspension that drivers like Mikko and Latvala are not able to perform. I am just wondering what they are thinking right now.

Next year there are regulation change and new spec cars so may be they are working on it. I really thought Mikko can be more consistent and take on Loeb

 

[allent2]

just got back home from the race in trier gemany. heres some fotage i shot

 

[CodeRedR51]

Such a shame Block keeps having issues with his car. He had an 8th place finish going before a stupid alternator belt snapped. Go figure.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Right now, it seems more important that Block is actually capable of running that high. He's been very quiet of late, and while it's understandable that it will take a rookie some time to get up to speed (as crowd-pleasing as it is, I can't imagine that his sideways style is terribly fast), his embarrassing first-round exit from X-Games 16 (and on one of the dullest circuits ever designed) had me wondering if he wasn't just a one-hit wonder.

 

[boiltheocean]

I think congratulations are in order for Latvala, his tarmac speed has improved dramatically and he's the only one holding it up for Ford at the moment.

 

[Stiggy]

Next years WRC Rally Australia at risk due to environmentalists (again )
http://www.tweednews.com.au/story/2010/09/04/rally-repco-tweed-evans/

 

[Speedster502]

Hm, it seems I need to update this thread a bit. Sorry guys!

Concerning the whole Block thing, at first I thought fair enough he's crashed out of the events he's entered so far but he is a rookie at the end of the day in the WRC section. But lately I've been thinking he can't be that bothered, if he was bothered about doing well in WRC, why isn't he in every rally? He seems to be more fussed on Rally America or Gymkhana 3 (and the various events that go with it) than he is on doing well in the WRC.

Also I've thought why am I using saying that he's a rookie in WRC? That doesn't add up. He's bought his own way into WRC but doesn't actually currently possess the skills to do well in it. You wouldn't let a rookie straight into F1. He needs to work through the ranks, go back to Rally America win some more things there, then progress to the IRC, then JWRC etc etc. I think he's been quiet recently because he's under estimated the amount of skill needed to keep up with the fast people. Even Kimi, his nearest rival, is doing better than him. I think this is purely because Kimi has at the moment got more experience in a WRC spec car than Block does.

 

[Ardius]

Also I've thought why am I using saying that he's a rookie in WRC? That doesn't add up. He's bought his own way into WRC but doesn't actually currently possess the skills to do well in it. You wouldn't let a rookie straight into F1. He needs to work through the ranks, go back to Rally America win some more things there, then progress to the IRC, then JWRC etc etc. I think he's been quiet recently because he's under estimated the amount of skill needed to keep up with the fast people. Even Kimi, his nearest rival, is doing better than him. I think this is purely because Kimi has at the moment got more experience in a WRC spec car than Block does.

I think you are struggling with the definition of "rookie". He is a WRC rookie, though not a rookie of rallying in general.
There is a difference between the rallying he has done before and the rallying in WRC. But he is not out of his depth and I think he has done ok. I don't see what the money has to do with it though, very few drivers in motorsport don't bring money. So everyone "buys" their drive.
I'd also guess he hasn't done a full WRC season because he doesn't have enough funds for that rather than he isn't interested...

Its funny you mention Raikkonen yet say "you wouldn't let a rookie straight into F1". I think you need to look up Raikkonen's history .
I'm personally not surprised Raikkonen is blowing him away, because Kimi is a great driver when his mind is on it. He didn't win races with McLaren without being bloody good. Block has never been up there with Raikkonen..come on, you are comparing a Formula 1 World Champion with a fairly successful stunt/rally driver??