Robert Kubica, Williams, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

Would Kubica’s 2019 return have gone better at another team?

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There have been numerous questions about Robert Kubica’s future, particularly after comments he made in Singapore, Russia and Japan about his planned exit from Williams and his treatment within the team.

RaceFans reader Dan (@Danmar), wrote in to ask whether Kubica would have had “more success if he was driving a better car? A Toro Rosso or Alfa [Romeo] for example?”

Kubica’s return to racing in F1 had all the makings of a feel-good story in a sport that too-seldom displays its human side. It is a great pity for both team and driver that 2019 started so poorly, what with the team not even having its car ready for the first of those crucial pre-season test sessions. That set the scene for the year ahead.

Despite Kubica being rather outspoken, we are unlikely to ever know exactly what transpired behind closed doors, for William traditionally maintains a stiff upper-lip about such things. That characteristic has not changed even if their on-track performance has, for the worse. I believe there are three sides to the story: his side, team side and a fuzzy bit between the two.

However, no matter how much a team has underperformed – and Williams surely has this year – it’s simply unfathomable for a team to give any driver second-rate treatment – particularly when going all out to claw its way back up the grid. Yes, there were acerbic comments from Kubica in Japan about having a new front wing design taken off his car, but had it offered a clear-cut advantage, I’m sure the team would have used it.

After all, why screw yourself in what could well have be an unpredictable race, given the after-effects of Super Typhoon Hagibis?

Robert Kubica, Williams, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019
Williams’ late start to 2019 didn’t help
But what is equally clear, is that Kubica has also serially underperformed, particularly in relation to his rookie team-mate George Russell, who has out-qualified him 15-0, disregarding the two events where Kubica did not set a time: Belgium (power unit failure) and Japan (crash).

Whenever a pale blue car finds a barrier, the immediate response from many in the media centre is ‘Kubica’, and more often than not that has been confirmed by either helmet recognition or screen graphics. Unfair, maybe – after all Russell has crashed out of two of the last three races – but also telling.

Nonetheless, Kubica has contributed to a shortage of parts suffered by the team, particularly where back-to-back races are concerned. Members of his fan club have suggested that he overdrives to compensate for (perceived) equipment shortcomings, but is not acceptable at the top level if true – which I doubt. Let us not forget that he suffered a number of spectacular accidents during his 2013-16 WRC spell.

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I believe that since he suffered those appalling injuries in 2011, Kubica’s natural abilities have been eroded – apart from any other consideration – by time and the fact he does not have the bank of experience to compensate for the onward march of age as do his peers, who did not suffer the same career interruptions.

Robert Kubica, Williams, Red Bull Ring, 2019
Russell almost lapped Kubica in Austria
That, more than any unequal kit or treatment, has resulted in him being unable to realise the enormous potential he showed before his life-changing accident. More’s the pity, of course, but that’s the cruelty of life in general, and his situation in particular.

So what difference would a return in a less terrible car than an FW42 have made? You can take it as a given that Kubica would have enjoyed more success this year with another team, particularly Alfa Romeo, where he started his F1 career and scored his only career win, during its previous incarnation as BMW Sauber. No one is denying Williams has underperformed. However, the crucial question is not so much that, but whether he would have outperformed his team mate, which is the truest measure.

Much as I rate Russell – who like Charles Leclerc took back-to-back titles in F1’s designated top ‘feeder series’ and has the backing of one of the sport’s top two teams – I doubt he delivered superstar performances in his rookie season. Yet he has comfortably outshone Robert all season, so depending on who would have raced alongside Kubica, I believe the chances are that he would have been outperformed.

So to answer Dan’s question, it depends on your definition of ‘more success’. If it be points scored, I have no doubt Kubica would have scored more than the single point scored to date this year; if it be a more a successful season in reputation terms, I unfortunately doubt it, harsh as those words are to write and read.

Looking ahead, I believe Kubica can look forward to a solid, high-level driving career – in, say, touring or sports cars, and will be much in demand as a simulator driver given. But I fear his F1 racing days are now over.

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    57 comments on “Would Kubica’s 2019 return have gone better at another team?”

    1. Atleast a other team would give him a adjusted steeringwheel at the start. So probally a little bit

      1. +1 Also even with the disaster of Williams his comeback has been nothing short of amazing.

        1. Given the lack of movement he has in his arm, evidenced in his video playing Kvyat in table tennis over the weekend the fact that he has been able to compete at all is spectacular, especially given he wasn’t even able to attain a customised steering wheel until after the summer break… I doubt we’ll see him in an F1 again but high level racing for sure if not sim driver for a bigger team.

      2. To be honest I never rated Kubica very high. He was only impressive at rare occassion. And who knows, maybe they were because of the car. I mean, Maldonado didn’t suddenly become A FREAKIN GOD AT DRIVING in spain 2013. The car/tyres/whatever made that possible.

        1. I’m not saying this disproves what you said, but remember that after his win in Canada 2008 he was leading the Driver’s Championship. That may have been much more due to consistency than superstardom, but that then puts him up there in the pantheon of Best Number Two Drivers a Team Could Ask For :)

        2. One more point than Russel (because Russel made an on track mistake). Crashed as often as Russel. Monaco very good performance until Giovinazzi shunt. Yep, not a perfect return, yep performance is maybe slightly less than Russell who gets a bit of preference in parts ( just check Russell onboard Japan comments about brakes to see what Kubica was dealing with). So slightly worse than a F2 champion. In my book not bad, not bad at all.

    2. No, it would have gone far worse. At least in Williams, his bad performances aren’t highlighted as much, and he was sometimes up to 1.5-2s behind Russell, or finished over a minute behind, but was still only 1 place behind. In a better car, the discrepancy between Kubica and his teammate would have been highlighted far more. Instead of being 1 place behind his teammate, he could be 8 or 9 places behind, with an embarrassing points return relative.

      1. I have to agree, the discrepancies of the FW42 have actually spared his blushes to an extent. As the car isn’t fit to wear an FW chassis plate he will be able to leave F1 saying he did all he could with the poor machinery he was given. But even then, it is patently clear that he has been blown into the weeds by Russell…

        There is no denying that everyone wants Robert to succeed, but I think we have to admit that, he isn’t the driver he once was, largely due to his injuries and missing all those years of F1 experience.

      2. I was going to post this too. At any midfield team his season would have been even far more embarassing. Except if he’d had Stroll as a teammate, but I think even Stroll would have outperformed him most of the time.

      3. You don’t know what are you talking about.
        Russell has a better car, better parts has been given to him.
        Robert car was never same as Russell car.
        He did better than Russell on the pit lane start many times even his car was worst.
        Williams supported Russell much more than Robert.
        English driver in English team, you must’ve blind not to see this.
        Russell is very good driver but Kubica could not show his full talent yet in this car at this circumstances.
        For Williams only one good thing this season was to show how Russell is good competing to old great driver Kubica giving him better car and parts.
        They did not have a money for developing two cars… even one… so they choose to support one of the driver for obvious reasons.
        You must be all blind not to see this.
        Don’t worry about Kubica he is way better than Williams and Russell even after his accident and body problems.
        Give him same car and you will see.

      4. Disagree..
        Watch onboards of GR and RK, even from the 1st races of the season, during any sessions.. you’d see that these cars are not the same in terms of behavior on the track.. true be told; Williams couldn’t (didnt want to?) afford:
        – 2 equal cars
        – GR being Brit and Merc driver
        – Merc being supplier and largely factual owner (discounts on engines) of ‘Wheelbarrow Racing’

        Give them same machine on the same track – I bet ‘my house’ (GR quote) and the difference between the 2 will be no more than 0.3 sec. Also, look at the Friday sessions throughout the season.. they were close enough, then suddenly during qual, RK suddenly ‘forgot’ how to drive.
        I’m not saying is the WR purposely wrongdoing.. I’m saying GR was/is their no1 and thats their only focus for the season due to lack of resources.
        And I do think GR is one of the future top drivers, nothing against him

    3. As I commented in another thread, supposing Kubica would be in the place of Giovanizzi in Alfa Romeo it would be more humiliating for him, because is 60-80 seconds deficit per race would mean he would end up usually behind the Williams while Raikkonen was fighting for points.

    4. Come on… I respect RF, but that is a bad article.

      Why did you analysed it? Why did you waste your time, making terrible mistakes in that analysis?

      You BELIEVE, based on your humour maybe, Kubica would have got his wing if there was a big advantage
      – Kubica said he was really comfortable in his car, first time after a long time
      Isn’t that enough to be a big advantage? Why don’t you believe a driver? It’s so clear…

      Comparison to Russell.
      – People laugh, but it’s clear that George has a better equipment. There were proofs – worse aero balance at the start of the season, brakes pulling left. Watching onboards looked like two different cars. George never had this problem.
      – Updates working like a lottery. New suspension has worked in George’s car since Silverstone. Kubica had to wait a few more races, not because they had only one part. New front wing gave Robert big advantage, in George’s car it doesn’t work at all. Isn’t that strange? You can clearly find data when Kubica is faster after the corner and with similar setup much slower on the straight.
      – They don’t have the same equipment. People don’t believe, because Buxton says get over it or why they would do that. Yeah, amazing argument. Why would people kill each other? But look, some are in prisons!

      So basically you missed every important point and made a Motorsportcom-like analysis. Based on a belief, not on facts. Pseudoscience.

      1. 100% agreed!

    5. Keith – are you completely newbie in F1 or you are trying to make some politics here?
      it’s simply unfathomable for a team to give any driver second-rate treatment This is what is happening in all teams. We can argue about level of that but is’t something which is normal in F1. George is supported by Williams and Mercedes – what do you want more? Kubica is testing parts for Russel. Kubica is only one driver who doesn’t improve after practice sessions – you have to ask why it is happening? Kubica is suffering amnesia? He had 2 front wings and 4 mirrors fallen apart during races. He had problems with breaks from the beginning of season. Everytime he has a chance to have better place than Russel, some strange things are happening. On Suzuka he was 0,185 faster than Russel before Q.
      but whether he would have outperformed his team mate, which is the truest measure With two different cars and two different treatments – how unfair is to compare drivers? Grosjean is faster than Russel – deal with it and your logic. We analyze Russel’s and Kubica’s all races second by second on POV. Kubica’s race engineer is total moron or he is pretending to be as so stupid. Russell’s all times calling “gap to Robert, gap to Robert…” is like mantra. You have to be a total ignorant not to understand what is happening in Williams. Robert is faster than Russel but Williams is doing everything to cover that… even with this crap car, with second hand parts he can be close to Russel which scares Claire so much…. and If you do not understand why it is happening – follow the money.
      But I fear his F1 racing days are now over You don’t have to. Kubica will be in F1… but Williams as 56 other teams will be no longer.

      1. @Vayha,
        well said my friend and to the point

    6. Much as I rate Russell – who like Charles Leclerc took back-to-back titles in F1’s designated top ‘feeder series’ and has the backing of one of the sport’s top two teams – I doubt he delivered superstar performances in his rookie season

      I disagree. I think Russel has done very well. Hungary qualifying was definitely a big highlight. Even in Japan race, he was closer to 5th place Sainz than to his teammate.

      1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        15th October 2019, 9:22

        I agree. I’m really excited about Russell. I think he has it all.

      1. My thoughts too
        Imagine the embarrassment Williams would have to live with if they finished 2019 with 0 points.
        Kubica beat his team mate in the only metric that actually maters, points.

        1. Jose Lopes da Silva
          15th October 2019, 12:34

          As a team principal, would you hire Kubica over Russell?

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            15th October 2019, 12:43

            I’m not sure that 1 point would make a difference for a team of William’s stature but it does sound better than a bagel. I think it’s more important for Kubica as he can take comfort in the fact that he outscored his teammate by 100% in spite of the massive differentials in everything else between them. Russell is a bit unlucky that Kubica scored the only point. We all wanted to see Kubica make a comeback and maybe simply the fact that he was able to compete again after an injury and a very long break may be an accomplishment in itself. He never gave up.

            1. Jose Lopes da Silva
              15th October 2019, 12:51

              “he was able to compete again after an injury and a very long break may be an accomplishment in itself. He never gave up.”
              That’s what matters the most, and that’s something for his supporters, Polish or not, to be proud.

              But answering the rethorical question, no team principal would hire Kubica over Russell. I don’t even think Russell considers himself unlucky not to have scored that point. No one his rumouring Kubica to be in a Mercedes over the next seasons. Toto Wolff did not talk about it.

              We’re not even mentioning why did Renault dropped Kubica’s hiring after his testing.

      2. Toxic, by any other performance metric than a fluke result in Germany, Kubica is significantly less competitive against his team mate than other drivers whom you have heavily criticised as being unfit to drive in F1. You don’t see people going “well, Stroll has got a podium finish, therefore he must be a great driver” – they acknowledge that it was a freak result and weigh his result accordingly (and Stroll is a more competitive driver against Perez than Kubica is against Russell).

        If this was another driver with the same performance statistics as Kubica, you’d be screaming for them to be fired immediately – why, instead, do you praise a driver you’d condemn with any other name?

    7. If you put Hamilton or Verstappen in the Williams they would also be at the back of the grid a lap behind the leaders. (even though they are amazing drivers on top of their game). There is only so much a driver can do nowadays. Williams are in a separate category this year. Just look at Keith’s visualization of lap times…

      On the other hand, if you put Grosjean and Magnussen (or any other average driver) in the Mercedes between 2014-2019 they would be multiple world champions by now.

      1. Grosjean or Magnussen against who in the Mercedes? Hamilton?

        1. They would be team mates. Of course hypothetical :-)

      2. Ok, but they wouldn’t win all titles, I think 2014-2016 no question, they’d lose 2017 to vettel, in 2018 vettel has been terrible but would he have made so many mistakes against slow drivers? So maybe also losing 2018, and 2019 is a big question mark as the car has been more dominant than the past 2 seasons but not as much as previous ones, but you got leclerc, so I wouldn’t be that sure on a mercedes win.

    8. While it is unlikely that a team would hurt one of their own drivers it has happened in the sport. If I remember correctly arrows did change mika salo’s car for older spec for the last race because they had some animonisity in the team between some people. Red bull did take that front wing once from webber’s car to put it on vettel’s car despite webber being faster that weekend. I also think that there is a human factor in the smaller teams and things don’t always follow the logical ways of thinking. Sometimes things are done simply because of spite and personal disagreements.

      I think when you look at this season at williams it has been obvious for quite some time that the williams car is just horrible and that russell is faster than kubica. So if the team wanted to save money and make less spares then putting all the effort into russell’s car would still give them the best result while allowing them to save some money. After all williams’ situation is very different compared to sauber. Williams can only hope to luck into points when lots of cars in front of them have dnf. As such favouring one driver does not hurt them same was as it would hurt sauber who can theoretically have both cars on points in every race if all goes well. Giving worse equipment to giovanazzi would cost sauber points but for williams giving worse equipment to kubica doesn’t really make any difference. P20 gives same amount of points as p11. Williams is not in the fight for points and everybody knows it.

      But has williams been playing favourites? I don’t think so. I think they have simply given up for this season and are just doing the races hoping for a miracle in 2020. Making minimum number of spares and just saving costs. They should have given kubica his special steering wheel but would it have made any difference? No. The points would still be the same. So while treatment between the drivers can vary and there has been some cases of clear self sabotage over the years I think for williams in 2019 it is just a case of pretend to race and hope the season ends quickly. They know they get very small amount of points which hurts their development for this year and next year as their prize money income goes down. For kubica this is probably annoying as he would at least want to work on it and salvage what he can but the team just wants to do as little as possible because the season is lost anyways.

      1. Human factor is the cause of Kubica not having his goals at Suzuka. He said few weeks earlier that he wont be driving for Wiliams next year but 2019 season is not over yet, as well as his contract, so both sides should obbey their agreement till the seeason is over.

    9. It’s sad to see what is going on in this once great team, but George himself considered retiring in Japan due to brakes malfunction and this is only an iceberg tip, because due to lack of funds Robert’s car had this kind of issues whole season.
      Robert has gone throught all possibele test before Williams hired him and at this level of performance difference between drivers can be up to half second, lets say even 1 second if track fits beter to one of them, but what we’ve goth in Williams – 1.5 and more its just not drivers related but if somebody belive it is he just dont understand F1 at all.
      Look at the “drivers tracks” as Monaco, Spa, Suzuka – Robert was much closer to George (or faster in FP) – that is also meaningfull.
      I’m not happy with it at all but hope last races of season will open eyes of those believing in equal equipment in Williams but first of all I whish that both drivers will be safe as now this is not that obvious at Williams.

      1. Very well said.

    10. The fairytale was doomed from the beginning. Kubica is effectively driving with one hand…the other just somewhat attached to the steering wheel. He was out of F1 for far too long before this comeback. With everything that might be wrong with F1 in mind, I still believe that it is more challenging than this. Kubica wanted to prove something primarily to himself, but there is a reason why in 2018 Williams overwhelmingly chose Sirotkin over him…and they were right to do it. In 2019, they simply run out of other options.

      1. If your thinking is right then after this season Russel will be driving both cars, one just to test spare parts if they still can manage, and the second one for the lonely race. If I were Latifi I would think at least 10 times over before going to this team.

      2. reason why in 2018 Williams chose Sirotkin…. I think u didn’t follow this lead. It was because of MONEY. It was auction! Now Williams is taking revenge on Robert because he said to media that he doesn’t want seat in 2020 in Williams which is destructible move on Williams – they will have no auction in 2020. They will beg for money.

    11. I would think the best answer to give in this situation is that we will never know, such is F1.

      1. His comeback would’ve been better at any other team simply because of how horrible the Williams cars are. Put him in a Merc and while he might not be WC but he probably also wouldn’t be at the back of the pack like he is with Williams…

        1. Cristiano Ferreira
          15th October 2019, 12:36

          If you put him in a Merc he would be probably fighting with McLarens and some others from the midfield, so the seat remains wasted after all

          It’s sad to say something like this but even “okish / mediocre” drivers like Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr or Esteban Gutierrez would do a better job than him.

          1. Cristiano Ferreira
            15th October 2019, 12:43

            *probably fighting against Mclarens and others from the midfield

    12. Jose Lopes da Silva
      15th October 2019, 12:45

      I can’t understand why people following motorsports can’t cope with the team factor. Yes, the car matters, but you need a driver in the car.

      This thing doesn’t happen in football. Everyone understands that if you want to win the Champions League you can’t be playing for Swansea, Getafe, Hamburg or Sampdoria. You must be in a top team. Top players get into top teams. Why can’t people realise the same in motorsports?

      In a Mercedes, Kubica would be fighting with Sainz, Raikkonen and the Renaults. Is this better than scoring a point in Germany? Yeah, sure! He would be scoring a lot of points.

      These people should be watching golf, tennis and athletics.

      1. Haha what a nonsense. Let me do another comparison for you. You have two football players. You give them task to strike the ball as much as they can, and you measure the top speed of the ball. Then you give one normal ball and you give second one ball that has half the pressure of the 1st one. So… you know the result. Better go watch golf, tennis and athletics then, because watching F1 and not knowing that at this level of motorsport the car is more then 80% and the rest is the driver…

    13. I think it’s unfair to speculate really. The gap between himself and Russell is kinda jarring although expected given his time out of the sport, and given the state of the car they’re both driving its pretty hard to draw a comparison of quality between the pair of them. Did anyone really expect Kubica – essentially an older, physically hampered rookie to blow Russell away?

      Given his injuries and the time he has had out of the sport just getting back onto the grid is a championship-winning achievement in itself. I think given the car he’s in he’s done as good as he was going to, and whether he’d have been better in the Renault, or the Haas is a question we’ll never know now.

    14. David Monkton
      15th October 2019, 14:11

      He was lucky to have a drive with williams! No other team wanted him!

      1. And he still perfomed better than Russell [biggest talent some say]. I’m not talking about points, you can check performance stats.
        90% of Kubica’s race is “lift and coast”.

        1. Yep thats true.

    15. I believe he would. The Williams car is surely a pig to drive, and we’ve also seen many times how drivers needs a car to suit their style or they are far off their best. With a driver that’s used to F1 cars of old and out of the game for a while, this is probably even more pronounced.

      In a good car that suited him it would have been much better. I dare say in a Red Bull he wouldn’t be that much worse than Gasly or Albon 0.6 – 0.8s behind Verstappen. (Russel would be closer than them all as he seems a top talent) Desperation and overdriving wouldn’t set in either, and he could use his skills tyre saving or whatnot to still haul in the points.

    16. Andreas Gandor
      15th October 2019, 15:21

      For me as somebody following F1 for 30 years,
      i heard for the first time, that a driver crashes the car in qualifying
      then finds out the his team changed the setup and nose of his car without his knowing

      what kind of relationships must be between Williams and his driver ?

      1. Paul Gauthier
        15th October 2019, 19:16

        Because kubica is lying.
        Williams were very upfront about the front wing that kubica is referencing.
        As a person who has followed f1 for 30 years, why is it that you have not paid attention to reporting leading up to the weekend? A simple google.search turns up article after article that references the front wing williams tested in fp1 and fp2. In fp1 it was used by both drivers because each car had sifferent test sensors attached. In fp2 only kubica ran the wing and Russell ran the current wing to give a baseline comparison in real time. The front wing is an experimental piece for 2020 and williams only brought 1. They want to run it in mexico practice as well. It’s a good thing they didn’t put it on kubica’s car for quali because he would have destroyed it…

        1. If you say he’s lying means you know nothing about kubica and his character. Dave Robson said they might use it in the GP. But it didn’t help Russell, that’s why they didn’t. It was great only in Kubica’s car.
          It was Williams and Clair lying throught the whole season.

        2. Do you even know what he said? He said that the team agreed to use new front wing on Kubica’s car, then suddenly before quali they change their minds. Of course he knew he is driving old wing. There is a rumor even that it was so old that was even run at Barcelona pre-season tests. What a joke. And you hear in official British broadcast that team didn’t wanted to favor one driver over another. OMG British team and British broadcast should be banned :). Oh I just can’t wait for the book that someone from this team writes in future about 2019 season.

    17. It has gone sour. I don’t blame the team. IMO Robert left f1 with a great perception, undeserved even, now he has shown to be nothing but an average driver, IMO.

    18. Yeah this future GR must be so average driver compared to this old slow Kubica. Future world champion some says. I say nah can’t be. He did’t show enough compared to this overrated Kubica.
      To the author of this pure speculation unrelated to reality, what a nonsense argumentation under the flag “what would be”, what a convenient for your point of view or rather Wiliams because this pseudo article looks like written under order of Wiliams just after some harsh information Kubica finally provided us.
      So:
      Regarding “However, no matter how much a team has underperformed – and Williams surely has this year – it’s simply unfathomable for a team to give any driver second-rate treatment – particularly when going all out to claw its way back up the grid.”.
      1. Kubica needed time behind the wheel far more then Russel after his brake didn’t he? So what Williams did, well didn’t get the car on time.
      2. If you don’t have money, your staff is going to competition the better part of it for sure. You can’t produce the parts what would you do if you really want to test your car. You put better, newer parts to one car not shuffle them between cars randomly.
      3. We all know who is the no 1 driver at Williams, he said it himself before even season started. How he can’t be when he is Mercedes junior, who’s contract was signed by Mercedes at the first place.
      4. How will you call then this situation when Kubica did’n get adjusted steering wheel to his hand situation. Maybe Williams should place all buttons one side of the wheel in the 1st place, so they wouldn’t favor one driver over another?
      You must be blind Mr. Rencken to say Williams couldn’t give any driver second-rate treatment. This team just couldn’t afford to give even treatment for both drivers and I’m sure if they could they would.

      “William traditionally maintains a stiff upper-lip about such things”
      Yeah they now use your “lips” apparently.

      “After all, why screw yourself in what could well have be an unpredictable race, given the after-effects of Super Typhoon Hagibis?”
      Name those effects Mr. Rencken, what effects had such influence on the race? Tell me why shuffle again with parts and change power steering for Q session in Kubica’s car? Why give him front wing from Barcelona tests, yeah not to favor one driver over another. What a joke. Do you understand F1 properly even? This sport is all about confidence for the driver. Kubica never had this confidence. And changing parts from session to session for sure doesn’t give you this, but for sure can explain massive performance difference between sessions for Kubica/

      If true “Whenever a pale blue car finds a barrier, the immediate response from many in the media centre is ‘Kubica’, and more often than not that has been confirmed by either helmet recognition or screen graphics. Unfair, maybe – after all Russell has crashed out of two of the last three races – but also telling.” I would say wishful thinking, I can understand this human reaction because for sure there is statistically more journalist from UK then from Poland for example. So this tells what exactly Mr. Rencken?

      “Members of his fan club have suggested that he overdrives to compensate for (perceived) equipment shortcomings, but is not acceptable at the top level if true – which I doubt. Let us not forget that he suffered a number of spectacular accidents during his 2013-16 WRC spell.”
      If true do you think that giving this equipment shortcomings regarding F1 standards is acceptable in the fist place? And spectacular is just your ignorance Mr. Rencken confronting WRC to F1. Better count and confront accidents in this season between GR and RK. And when you conveniently will not count GP France, then you are not a journalist at all.

      The rest is just blah blah blah, what if, what would be, you will never know Mr. Rencken, you surely must be so bored of modern F1 that you write such low articles.

      1. Its all right but it is as talking to a brick wall – you can give facts and numbers but conclusions will be different. I tried many times, when I showed logical conclusions from confirmed facts there was silence at the other side, but half a day was enough to forget it and be back to “so much slower” motto. When I tried harder to associate facts and draw conclusions… I was banned from that forum :D.
        I hope Robert will have an occasion in future to deliver evidence that his top speed still is there, he will.

    19. Paul Gauthier
      16th October 2019, 13:59

      The reality of the situation is that orlen are willing to back kubica with 25 million. No team in f1 is interested in putting him in a race seat even with that much backing. The decision makers at the teams are in the paddock every single race and they all know each other. They know so much more about the situation than anyone here. If kubica was even half way decent he would be driving because the backing he would bring from orlen is huge.

      1. OK. Which team if 80% seats are Mercedes and Ferrari and Redbull – which do not need money and they have our drivers program

    20. Dawid Trawczynski
      16th October 2019, 21:29

      This story is just clever manipulation sprinkled with some light-handed opinion pretending to be educated F1 analysis. If you watched this F1 season you would notice that Kubica often was within 0.1 sec. to Russel on many occasions (free practice sessions on circuits where driver skill takes over priority over car quality (Monako, Suzuka, etc.). In qualification his performance then mysteriously goes down as team take parts away, changes engine maps, etc… He has been only Williams driver to score a point after he brought the car home 11th place, passing GR in a critical part of the race (due to GR’s error). That deserves respect. He made 2 huge entries in F1 and he will be back for a 3rd one with other team that is better managed. I would not be surprised if top-team will eventually hire him again to gain his experience, speed and race craft. Finally, watch all the race starts. Kubica compared to GR is often 3 positions up at start, after first 1 lap. This tells a lot about a driver. He may not be as “good”‘ as in the old days, but that has not been proven this season due to WMR car being a very low performer. Have a nice day F1 experts …

    21. He would have done better on real racing tires like he raced in 2010, not this joke tires that you can really push few laps and managing rest of the laps like in endurance.

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