Current Robert Kubica

He's fast, Polish and a bloody brilliant racer. To me Kubica is a special talent and has been very unlucky to not find himself in a top team yet.

The thing i like about Kubica is that he's a trier and never gives in say if he was third and had a sniff of second he'd go and chase the second place man down. He's a much toned down version of Lewis Hamilton IMHO he's great at overtaking (Austrailla 2009) exception and if he was in a better car i think he'd a won more races than the current 1 he stands at.

Kubica made his F1 debut at the Hungrian GP in 2006 replacing the injuried Jacque Villeneuve for BMW Sauber. He'd outqualified teammate Nick Heidfeld at the time and finished the race in 7th place only to be DSQ for been under weight. Since Kubica's first and only Pole Position came at the 2008 Bahrain GP, that same season he'd broke his winning duck and won his current and only race in Canada. Kubica has stood on the podium 12 times and in his 76 race he's scored a total of 273 points.

Sad news broke eariler in the year (2011) that Kubica had been involved in a Rally competition and crashed, his life was said to be in the balance, but he's slowly recovering from nasty injuries he substaned in the accident. It remains to be seen whether Kubica will return to motor-racing. But for me Kubica is a talented driver and if we do see him back on the grid i'd be over the moon.

Whether you like him or not Kubica is a cool guy and one that i'd like to see become Champion if he return's to the sport.

How do you rate Kubica?

 

[Greenlantern101]

I don't think the personal insults are necessary Radical F1

 

[Dartman]

When you are that far back you need someone who can advise on the modifications and set up with experience, a young quick gun will then get the best, so no retirement for Kubica. Back in the day of unlimited testing then yes he would go, but Williams need a in race test driver.

 

[Radical F1]

I don't think the personal insults are necessary Radical F1

I know. It's due to my frustrations.
I was so against his comeback as a driver. Adviser or tester yes but not on the seat. And now this....

 

[Il_leone]

Radical F1 Then you ought to aim your frustration at Williams hierarchy or Claire Williams probably who once again make a balls up decision about selecting the right drivers to get itself back to the front.

 

[Radical F1]

Radical F1 Then you ought to aim your frustration at Williams hierarchy or Claire Williams probably who once again make a balls up decision about selecting the right drivers to get itself back to the front.

Yep. to all of the team actually. I like Williams a lot specially the time when Massa was there. After Clair, all loose broke Hell !

 

[Radical F1]

Formation lap spin on top of losing to his rookie team mate in each race, qualy and free practices.
Time to hang them helmet Robert ! Just pass the drive to anyone but you.

 

[cider_and_toast]

and free practices.

Apart from beating him in China free practices 1 and 2 and being less than 500ths of a second slower in FP3 and less than 200ths in qually you mean?

 

[F1Brits_90]

i think kubica is getting better he just struggling with these Pirelli tyres

 

[Radical F1]

Yeah right.
Keep believing that Kubica is good enough for F1.
I don't blame his defenders

 

[RasputinLives]

Who do you blame?

 

[Greenlantern101]

His come back has been underwhelming. He was a long way behind Russell in China and Russell had an extra pit stop.
I'm a huge fan and was very excited to see him back but this has been disappointing. He needs to get on the pace in the next few races or he might not make it until the end of the year which would be a real shame.

 

[Izumi]

Yeah right.
Keep believing that Kubica is good enough for F1.
I don't blame his defenders

You and I have discussed his (then) possible return endlessly on another forum, and you may recall how aggressively with overtones of nastiness his starch supporters came out from nowhere to his defense, yet I do not feel any satisfaction - I told you so - from current situation.
I am not sure why Williams chosen him and not someone else, and second guessing of their decision at this point will not undo what's done. For some of us the idea of him to drive again was audacious then, and it is regrettable now, as this will be unfortunately his legacy (as Michael's is associated with his Mercedes outing).
I am not going to rehash all reasons why a driver has to do more than just drive with one hand F1 class racer, from reading terrain to feel degradation of tires, etc.; on board are more qualified people to do that. Think of successive race weekend, twisty circuits, thousands of gear changes; it all adds up, and drivers know that well. It was mistake allowing emotions (compassion?) prevail over reason.
I think you might be correct with suggestion that at some point, perhaps after summer break, there should be a reserve driver in that seat who can stay next year and continue with Williams. If this sounds cruel, well, this is the F1 we need to remember.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'll be honest I don't think anyone (except maybe 1% of hardcore fans) expected him to be as good as he was or make any sort of impact in a Williams. He is performing exactly how I expected him to perform. But given as if it wasn't him it would be some dodgy pay driver in the seat I'll take the nice story of a man who's promising career was ended in an accident hitting levels he never thought he would again. I'm not going to complain about it. Especially as he does genuinely seem a nice man. I certainly don't think the name calling or laughing at his misfortune that we are seeing on here are really called for however bad he is.

To be honest right now it doesn't matter who is in that Williams seat as they're going to come last anyways. Kubica was only ever going to keep that seat warm for Nicholas Lateffi and his money. He didn't secure his superlicence last year but will this.

 

[Il_leone]

Its sad to see Kubica trailing at the rear. We don't know how good he will until we see him in a competitive car.

The person you should ask why Kubica was picked is Claire Williams given their current plight with money and competitiveness. If it is not monetary reasons then it is a serious gamble given he was not picked last year when SIrotkin got the nod

Williams find itself in this situation from the moment they decided they wanted to jump to bed with Lawrence Stroll and his millions... I predicted that Williams would slide down the grid and sure enough that has happened. Their only saving grace is Lance Stroll is not fairing that much better at Racing Point

Even so its just so sad to see Williams and Kubica like this . Only 5 years ago they would have been a contender to challenge for race wins and podiums

 

[Radical F1]

You and I have discussed his (then) possible return endlessly on another forum, and you may recall how aggressively with overtones of nastiness his starch supporters came out from nowhere to his defense, yet I do not feel any satisfaction - I told you so - from current situation.
I am not sure why Williams chosen him and not someone else, and second guessing of their decision at this point will not undo what's done. For some of us the idea of him to drive again was audacious then, and it is regrettable now, as this will be unfortunately his legacy (as Michael's is associated with his Mercedes outing).
I am not going to rehash all reasons why a driver has to do more than just drive with one hand F1 class racer, from reading terrain to feel degradation of tires, etc.; on board are more qualified people to do that. Think of successive race weekend, twisty circuits, thousands of gear changes; it all adds up, and drivers know that well. It was mistake allowing emotions (compassion?) prevail over reason.
I think you might be correct with suggestion that at some point, perhaps after summer break, there should be a reserve driver in that seat who can stay next year and continue with Williams. If this sounds cruel, well, this is the F1 we need to remember.

You remember well Izumi. You say the truth

 

[Radical F1]

Who do you blame?

Himself. He Over Estimated / Rated himself and Under estimated Current F1 cars , level of competition and the drivers. I don't blame the Williams car, he knows from last year what he is getting into.

To save a few leftover of his previous reputation, it will be bigger of him to retire now and accept his mistake in coming back and give credit to Williams who gave him the chance.
Otherwise he will be the Laughing Stock of F1.
Sorry Robert.

 

[Izumi]

Radical F1 This discussion and arguments pro and con of decision to slot Kubica into this year lineup makes intellectual hardening of my arteries acute, and any of my attempts to rise above turns into hopeless failure. I just don't get substance of Williams's decision process.

 

[Dartman]

I imagine he's cheap compared to another F1 driver with similar experience, it doesn't matter if Russell beats him, the object is to improve the car, Kubica can do that and Russell benefits as does Williams, when the car is right then Kubica can bow out having done his job.​

 

[Izumi]

I imagine he's cheap compared to another F1 driver with similar experience, it doesn't matter if Russell beats him, the object is to improve the car, Kubica can do that and Russell benefits as does Williams, when the car is right then Kubica can bow out having done his job.​

I don't mean to be deliberately adversarial, but I doubt theory that a driver today can "fix" a flawed design of a car. Recall how many promises Button made (to all who were willing listen) just to keep his job when Honda was coming on board, and we know how that ended. There was a lot left behind which indicated it was not all just Honda. (Q.E.D.)

 

[Dartman]

Izumi, I didn't say he can fix the car, he is there to be a test driver, whether it is fundamentally flawed who knows, I am neither a F1 designer or a Williams employee, he is there to report what it doesn't do and hopefully why, when one has a really bad car the only way to change direction is to test drive in a race due to no testing.
Regarding Button, he was a lot less antagonistic than Alonso and having a part Japanese wife/fiance he may have been able to impart information to the engineers rather than it doesn't work, as someone the Japanese liked they may have listened , however Button was never a Ron Dennis favourite driver no matter how good he was and beat Ron's favourite driver Lewis, if he equalled Alonso after he was welcomed back that definitely wasn't on and he wasn't going to be given the chance