Robert Kubica, Williams, Singapore, 2019

Kubica: I’ll be surprised if I’m not racing next year

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Robert Kubica expects to be racing next year, but hasn’t said in which championship.

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What they say

Kubica has been linked to a potential move into the DTM while continuing in F1 as a reserve and test driver:

I would be surprised if I will not be racing next year. But probably a lot will depend on what will be possible.

Of course we can talk here [about] what I would like to do and stuff like this but there is no point because in the end you have to choose between what will be, let’s say, on the table.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

F1 should concentrate on getting one American driver before worrying about a second American race, says @GechiChan:

I know that Liberty are backing up this idea with a race in Miami (or more races in US) but it feels a bit forced or ahead of its time. Because I’m not sure if there is an audience there to support this race and all the hype it seems to surround itself in. There are no US drivers in F1 nor a high-profile team to fight for wins, and if you want to grab the american fans attention with an F1 race, you can only involve them with supporting the US drivers / teams.

Maybe for US F1 backers it would be better to get an american driver in F1 first, someone really talented and charismatic, like Alexander Rossi or Colton Herta. Also, Carey says they would like an american team that is better funded than Haas, so they can fight for wins. That would be great, and only then I’m sure a new race in the States would be a massive hit.
@GechiChan

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Keith Collantine
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32 comments on “Kubica: I’ll be surprised if I’m not racing next year”

  1. On COTD:
    1. I agree on the forced interested on setting a GP in Miami. But for upper middle class in Latin American Miami is essentially a second capital. It is reasonably accessible. Here is your audience.
    2. I do no see an american driver in F1 for a long time. In the US there are a dozen or two of winning cars on top series – nascar/indy. The guy can make his entire career on the US competing with fewer other drivers. In F1, there are 2, 3 winning cars per season. And we will soon complete a decade with two of those taken by the same drivers – HAM/VET. To get one of those, the driver has to compete with the entire world in lower formulas.
    A solution would be make a F1 a more sensible financial venture, so it attracts some american group, which, then, start a farm system – like RB – to raise its own drivers, maybe favoring North Americans, and in a couple of years, the stars align and there is a new US F1 champion – hoping that he is not as charismatic as Ferrucci.

    1. 2. I’m telling ya, and I’ll keep telling until it happens: put Josef Newgarden in an F1 car and watch him fly. He’s the real deal. And young Colton, he deserves all the shots.
      …..I’m getting so tired of all this, there’s 20 seats instead of the 30 there should be, and not even all of the 20 are filled by talent rather than money and even the ones that can, aren’t allowed to race.

    2. 1. Sure, I agree that there’s enough interest from the Latin middle class in Miami, but for a race to be really succesful you need to bring them something to cheer for, not just a venue to see some cars circle around, driven by people they don’t really know. That was my point, not the fact that the grandstands will be empty.

      2. I’m not saying that an american driver could be signed out-of-the-bat by one of the top 3 teams, that’s hard to do. But why not try to get a seat at a solid midfield team like McLaren, RacingPoint or especially Torro Rosso (where the talent doesn’t really burst at the seams right now, and from there you can get to a top team). This would make a great marketing stunt for the team / their sponsors given that the focus seems to be on bringing F1 more and more into North America.

    3. Ambrogio Isgro
      5th October 2019, 22:49

      Well, what Latin-American driver had any chance to shine right now in f1?
      The winning cars had all European drivers plus Albon, the best of the rest have european plus Ricciardo, then Racing Point is the only one with north american ones. Sette Camara will not get a f1 seat. Next in line are the Fittipaldis and the other sons of former f1 drivers (Barrichello, Montoya…). So even to attract Latin-Americans you need one or two competitive drivers

  2. No matter what series, ust try and be faster than your teammate next year.

    1. @megatron He is trying. He just didn’t manage it this time.

  3. Alesi treading on thin ice. It is true that Correa took to the run-off to avoid the cars ahead, unfortunately Hubert was crashed there. Don’t blame the drivers, blame the organisers, the fia is accountable for safety they could have kept that run-off gravel or improve the run-off as in this past few years they have gone back to a simple tyre stack. Instead alesi thinks it is the drivers that have to improve the safety in order to go along what the fia and race promoters have done. I think I have better judgement at 200kph than someone sitting on his desk counting pennies.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      5th October 2019, 1:39

      @peartree – To be fair, I’m not sure he is blaming the drivers here. The drivers will do whatever they can within the rules to get from the start to the finish as quickly as possible – they shouldn’t focused on safety. They should be focused on racing within the rules.

      To me, it seems Alesi is actually agreeing with you and is saying that the FIA is accountable for safety and they therefore should bring in rules that say that where there are asphalt runoffs, you will be given a penalty if you go off and keep your right foot planted.

      1. @petebaldwin in short he said hubert died because correa drove to the run-off. When Alesi mentions the fia he doesn’t challenge the new run-offs as other categories like them, he goes on to say as you pointed out that the fia should award penalties to those that don’t slow down off track. How is that not putting the onus of safety on the driver, instead of designing a safer track, where drivers don’t get into these situations? I sure wouldn’t want to be braking hard on a run-off even a paul ricard type as alesi suggests and then stroll around as any car can end up having a crash on me. On the penalty side motogp has a solution for that “penalty loops” it is called, force riders to take an off line corner that loses 3 s in time.
        Drivers can’t be reckless either, in light of what happened in belgium I don’t think they were reckless in Russia it’s a situation they have been put in. what’s been asked of the drivers in this situations is inane. Like asking f2 drivers to drive roundabouts at 200mph and you don’t stop in the middle of a roundabout. 3 lane or worse you juggle everyone around and pray for the best.

        1. To understand Alesi’s comment, I think you just have to look at young Giuliani’s position before the crash

        2. @peartree, at the same time, it sounds as if you want to perhaps take things too far in the opposite direction by putting all of the emphasis onto the FIA for safety and tending to absolve the drivers of responsibility for their actions.

          You talk about “designing a safer track, where drivers don’t get into these situations”, but seem to be rather vague about what that actually means in practise – it’s a very easy platitude to say, and rather different to implement in practise when you introduce the human element to it.

          You say that “they could have kept that run-off gravel”, but in the past the presence of gravel was ineffective at slowing cars down at best, and at worst actually made some accidents more dangerous. In the case of Zonta in 1999, when he lost control of his car at a similar point in the corner, his car then dug into the gravel trap, flipped and was sent tumbling violently across the track – in that case, your proposal to make things safer actually made the situation more dangerous.

    2. I totally blame brainless drivers in F2. And one in particular.

    3. @peartree To be fair it was a freak accident that would have taken a life at any circuit. As for the organizers actions have been taken almost immediately, for what it’s worth. Studies are ongoing and gravel traps will be installed here and there, ready for 2020.

      Also, the place where Hubert crashed is actually the exit of the endurance pitlane so it can’t be a gravel trap just there, making things more difficult to solve.

      1. @spoutnik I know, I agree with you, then like you said there’s the endurance pitlane, and good to hear that changes will be made.
        In short fia is the key organ for safety and a crashed car shouldnt end up in the firing lane, it became a firing lane because there was tarmac there
        The drivers can’t be reckless, they have to take split time decisions to save themselves, the fia has years, all I’m saying I don’t think we can blame Correa for trying to use the asphalt runoff to avoid a crash, it could have been worse it could have been better.
        I know who you are anonsaurus.
        Like blaming racers for playing russian roulette.

  4. So Alesi is right about speeding in runoffs. However, in Hubert’s case we don’t know.
    There has been conjecture he didn’t lift off the throttle. There has also been conjecture his wing was stuck under his front tires.
    Has anyone seen new information? Is Alexi privy to data that isn’t public?

    1. @slotopen I believe and hope this is more a question of Jean looking at some of the driving that is happening in multiple series (particularly, but by no means restricted to single-seaters), seeing Hubert’s crash, and seeing the possibility for an accident like the latter to occur if the former is not in some way controlled. Drivers respond to incentives, and getting a penalty for not slowing down on an asphalt run-off would count as an incentive to slow down.

      It would still be a legitimate way of increasing safety and preventing future injuries and deaths, regardless of whether speeding on an asphalt trap was in any way relevant to Hubert’s death.

  5. Vettel is very much the new version of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, occasionally hot headed and using every part of the team to get victories.

    The difference is, the grid is much better now than your Damon Hill’s and Mika Hakinnen’s, and Leclerc is exposing that.

    1. @scottie wow wow wow wait a minute, hakkinen? The driver that beat Senna on his debut?

      1. @peartree @scottie yeah, I think questioning Hakkinen is a bit too far, I mean if you argue that Schumacher took privileges, Mika still beat him twice, and widely considered a fantastic racing driver. Reference and context is a difficult thing, but I imagine few would think a young Mika wouldn’t more than hold his own on the current grid.

        1. Yeah I guess that’s fair @peartree, @bernasaurus. Mika was pretty well rounded much like other great champions I guess.
          I was just pinking others from the era, so perhaps I should have gone with Villeneurve then!

          1. *picking… damn

        2. @bernasaurus Hakkinen was barely better than Coulthard though

          And Hakkinen once getting ahead in qauli is hardly a glowing endorsement. Especially since it was quite clear that Senna was busy more with getting a Williams contract for next season than with that particular race weekend.

      2. @peartree At peak, no. However, Schumacher was able to sustain that peak a lot longer (across many seasons rather than Hakkinen’s 2 1/2).

  6. Alesi has interesting points there, and maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to impose speed-limit on tarmac run-off areas although it’s a combination of things rather than the fault of an individual or one thing.

    I also agree with the COTD.

  7. I really like Kubica. I’m a huge fan, and I have a lot of respect for what he’s achieved so far. His return to the sport is inspirational… but.. I would be shocked if any team on the current grid would give him a drive for next season.

    1. @todfod I think Robert is fully expecting that the race drive he mentions will not be a F1 one, but in some other series.

    2. @todfod, the likelihood of him racing in F1 is rather low, with perhaps only test/simulator roles on offer there – something which Kubica has said he’s not hugely keen on.

      It’s known that Audi have made contact with Kubica’s management about a possible DTM seat – I suspect that is probably the most likely destination for him right now, or probably at least some form of GT racing.

  8. I hadn’t noticed that you were racing this year Robert!

    (I’m gonna get some nasty replies I know but I had to say it ;P)

  9. Considering their F1 past, BMW might be an option for Kubica in Formula-E, they happen to have one seat still available, but after losing seasoned veteran Antonio-Felix da Costa and bringing in Maxi Günther, they might want to have someone with more experience in the series. Maybe they aren’t the best option for each other, but it might happen, and BMW was a race winner last year, not a dead-last Williams.

  10. Alesi: “This is the only thing I can say. I hate the people who blame when the things are done, so I don’t want to blame anybody”

    I also hate to blame anyone, but someone has to.
    Brainlessly push the gas pedal down while off-track is insanely stupid. Hope the one who did it, now realized this.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      5th October 2019, 19:16

      It doesn’t matter if he realises or not. The others still realise that the quickest way to get from A to B is to keep your foot planted if you go off. If you’re the one driver on the grid who slows down and safely rejoins the track whilst all the others floor it, you’ll lose your seat.

      Until the rules mandate that drivers slow down when they go off, they won’t because they’ll be focused on not losing a position.

  11. Why will he be surprised? He’s not racing this season either.

Comments are closed.