Does this not strike you as odd? I’ve still not quite got my head around it.

Sebastien Loeb is about to sign up to drive for Citroen in the World Rally Championship again next year. It’s virtually a done deal.

So what I don’t understand is Loeb – or others on his behalf – putting out the feelers regarding “the opportunity to race in one of more grands prix in 2010 [...] when the F1 and rally schedules do not clash”.

Contact has been made with USF1 to that end, but isn’t that terribly selfish?

I don’t think anything will come of it, because surely no Formula 1 team would plan in advance to move aside their regular, committed driver for a couple of races, in favour of Loeb, whose attitude is: “I might as well give it a go.”

There’s still a chance that he could drive for Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi this year, which I would be keen to see. It’s convenient for everyone: Toro Rosso dropped their regular driver, Loeb is sponsored by Red Bull, and the WRC season will be over.

But it seems rather presumptuous, big-headed and frankly rude to suggest to a team, in a series far bigger and more important than the WRC, that they might want to free up a seat for Loeb now and again next year. It’s bizarre.