Kubica’s Comeback Tale
By Joseph, Sub-Editor
Robert Kubica has for a long time been a distant figure on the F1 scene, looked upon as a lost talent to the F1 world since his injury to his wrist in a rally crash in 2011. However, in the last few months Kubica has become a major contender for the seat at Williams after tests at both Renault and Williams’ teams.
Kubica immediately caught the attention of F1 fans across the world during the 2006 season as he showed his talent and potential as an F1 champion. His first podium was achieved only a few races into his career and his first pole position and win came in 2008 as he fought with the McLaren and Ferrari teams in his uncompetitive BMW.
By this point, Kubica was emerging as a real talent for the future and in his early 20s, still had opportunities and chances to hone his skills to improve his chance of winning the championship in the future.
Despite a lacklustre 2009 and 2010 with uncompetitive BMW and Renault cars, Kubica changed career path and went into rallying. However, in February 2011, Kubica crashed during a rally and injured his wrist in a collision that would most likely stop him from racing competitively again, especially if we wanted to return to F1.
Despite this, after the retirement of Felipe Massa and the departure of Jolyon Palmer, Robert Kubica has emerged as one of the leading contenders to join one of the two teams as a driver for the 2018 season, a most unlikely story.
Despite his failure to achieve a Renault seat for the upcoming season, (with Nico Hulkenburg and Carlos Sainz taking the spots) he is still in contention for a seat at the Williams team alongside Lance Stroll for the 2018 season. After the retirement of Felipe Massa, Williams tested several drivers in an attempt to find the best fit for their 2018 car, amongst them being Paul Di Resta, Robert Kubica and Daniil Kvyat.
After Robert Kubica’s tests at the end of November and early December at the end of season test in Abu Dhabi, it is clear that Kubica is in the physical shape to return to F1, (as he completed 100 laps, (two race distances)) and this shows that his wrist is not that much of a problem. His pace is in and around the area in which Williams needs to decide that Kubica is the man for them, however, times and results can often be deceiving as the amount of fuel in cars is kept secret. However, the pace of Robert Kubica is in the right area. It is expected that Williams will make their driver decision in the next few weeks.
The comeback story of Robert Kubica is an exciting and heart-warming one, yet there is still work to be done for him to prove himself to the Williams team, however if he is signed for the upcoming season, it will be interesting to see how this sleeping giant of F1 will present himself…..