Who would have thought? What appeared so unlikely that it was downright impossible, is now on the verge of happening. Robert Kubica, whose right arm was partially severed six years ago in a horrific crash in a minor rally, is just one step away from a Formula One comeback.
Next Wednesday, the Polish driver will slip behind the wheel of a current Renault Formula One car in the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test at Budapest’s Hungaroring circuit.
Having already acquitted himself well in two previous tests in older cars, next week’s outing, his first in the faster, more physically-demanding 2017 machinery, is the clearest sign yet that Kubica is being sussed out for a potential return.
What a remarkable story that would be!
Formula One has missed Robert Kubica, a driver termed by none other than Fernando Alonso, as the best of his generation.
Hailed as a champion-in-waiting and reportedly with a Ferrari contract already in his pocket, Kubica’s career looked to be over after the crash in the Ronde di Andora rally on February 6, 2011.
It was clear he would face a long, hard road back to Formula One if at all, and yet rumours of a comeback refused to die down. There was talk of him returning that very year, for the 2011 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. Rumours that he would replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari also continued to swirl.
Formula One, it seemed, couldn’t accept that the career of one of its most promising talents had been cut short and that he wouldn’t win the championship he had been destined to. Neither could Kubica.
Just 19 months after his accident, he returned to competition, taking part in and winning a domestic Italian rally. He tested a German Touring Car, spent three years rallying, winning the WRC2 title in his first season.
He tried out the Mercedes team’s F1 simulator. This season he was set to make a full-time return to circuit racing with a drive in the World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he eventually pulled out of.
He made his single-seater return with a GP3 test earlier this year and then a Formula E test. In hindsight, those now appear to be carefully calculated steps steadily leading to an F1 comeback.
But, as the years ticked by, Kubica’s prospects of a comeback appeared to be dimming. Speaking to website motorsport.com as recently as February this year, Kubica said the limited range of motion of his arm wouldn’t allow him to drive at tight, twisty tracks like Monaco, which put any F1 comeback out of the question.
But all that changed in June when, for the first time since his rally crash, Kubica slipped behind the wheel of a Formula One car at a private test in Valencia. He completed an impressive 115 laps, over a race distance, in the 2012 E20 that took Kimi Raikkonen to victory in Abu Dhabi for Lotus, as Renault were then known.
Renault were impressed.
Talk of a comeback gathered steam. But it was tempered by a heavy dose of realism – even if Kubica had proven he could once again work his arm in the tight confines of an F1 cockpit, after seven seasons out, would he still have the speed?
“You build up your own question marks, based on how you know yourself and your body,” Kubica, now 32, told publication Auto Express earlier this month.
“And then if you’d asked me about them after even the first run at Valencia, they were gone, gone, gone, gone,” he added, putting his chances of an F1 return at “80-90%”
A second test followed in the same car, this time at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, in the build up to the British Grand Prix, with Kubica declaring any doubts he had about being able to race at the highest level had disappeared.
His comments after the two tests marked a dramatic change of tone for the Pole. Until then, he had always been realistic about his limitations, knocking back the lingering skepticism and only hardening the belief that an F1 return was on.
Only one thing remained - testing a current Formula One car, and it came as no surprise when Renault on Monday said they would run Kubica in the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test.
“After this test, we will carefully analyse the collected information to determine in what conditions it would be possible for Robert to return to competition in the upcoming years,” read Renault’s statement, quoting team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
Giving him a run in a modern day car on current racing tyres at a venue that only days before has hosted a race, will offer both Renault and Kubica the clearest idea yet of whether an F1 return is possible.
And if it proves right? Renault are committed to seeing the year out with their current drivers. But don’t be surprised to see the Kubica name back on the grid next season.
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