Robert Kubica's Seat?

Who would you like to see get the Lotus Renault drive for 2011?

  • Bruno Senna

    Votes: 10 28.6%
  • Romain Grosjean

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • Nick Heidfeld

    Votes: 18 51.4%
  • Someone else (not Luca Badoer)

    Votes: 6 17.1%

  • Total voters
    35
Agreed Brogan.Robert might try some Friday running later in the season.But as a full time driver I doubt it.
The "hairy one" himself".He might have put on pair of clean jeans for the photo

heidfied.jpg

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89624
Heidfeld admitted, however, that it was an opportunity that he could not miss, even if he is unsure if he will see out the season.
"Whether it is for the whole season is not clear right now, but of course I am ready and available for the whole season! The biggest sensation is that I did not expect to race this year," he said.

Interestering comments fro Heidfield.Do Lotus Renault expect Kubica to return this year.
confused.gif
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89624
Heidfeld admitted, however, that it was an opportunity that he could not miss, even if he is unsure if he will see out the season.
"Whether it is for the whole season is not clear right now, but of course I am ready and available for the whole season! The biggest sensation is that I did not expect to race this year," he said.

Interestering comments fro Heidfield.Do Lotus Renault expect Kubica to return this year.:s

I dont think you could ever judge these things really. Its a case making sure he is fit and well and has got the strengh in his hand. Don't think theres really a time limit for those things. I mean has aynoe actually even said kubica will make a full recovory. Its proberly written in his contract that its untill kubica's fit again.
But i am amazed how quick people eecover from injures nowa days. Randy De Puniet missed only 1 race with a broken leg. I wouldn't be suprised if Kubica is back long before the seasons end but i dont think anynoe at Renault is counting on it.
 
Latest update on Kubica's recovery.Couple of points I noticed in the answers.But although he is still in hospital he is recovering well.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89844
Q. What is his daily routine?
RC: The daily routine is just to do physiotherapy. He is in the department and the physiotherapists are coming to him. They
help him to sit on the chair, and they do some exercises there or on the bed. The routine is just very simple – as much as possible to work on the body to recover. This is specifically for his problems.
 
Appears that Kubica's progress is further hampered by another operation.Its not looking to good for him at the moment.


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89894
Robert Kubica has undergone a fourth operation in hospital in Italy today.
Doctors treating the injured Pole had initially hoped that he would only require the three operations carried out in the days following his rally crash last month.
But today further surgery was carried out to help the mobility of his injured elbow. Italian media reported that the operation was conducted by Dr Luigi Celli and Dr Francesco Lanza, and that his rehabilitation will resume in the coming days.
 
While I agree that this seems like bad news, it is possible that this will assist his progress. Correct, he may never drive in F1 again but this report does not state that, we are in the hands of the media, Kubica is in the hands of medical professionals. The report is actually positive in terms of progress so it's actually good news.:thumbsup:
 
Latests news on Kubia's condition.This is from AFP.
ROME — Formula One driver Robert Kubica could be walking around on crutches within weeks, doctors said Friday as the Pole continues his recovery from a rally car crash in which he almost lost his arm.
Kubica, who drives for the Renault Formula One team, narrowly escaped having his right arm and hand amputated after he crashed at high speed while travelling to a rally in northern Italy.
He has been in hospital in Liguria, Italy since the incident. Doctors said his recovery was going well.
"In a few weeks it is likely he will be able to walk around (with crutches)," doctors at the Santa Corona de Pietra hospital said Friday.
"Robert Kubica is improving and has recovered well from his last operation, on his (right) elbow."
He has undergone at least three operations since the accident.
 
Hmmmmmmmm, you need arms to use crutches. Any positively worded progress report is very welcome, I hope we see "a few weeks" as a short period.
 
Do we know where the cuts where on Kubica's arm/hand? Not being morbid don't want to see the pictures. Just want to know where he was injured so you can relate to it, in your mind understand how long it'll take to recover?

They have mentioned his hand and being close to being severed! Is it across his palm, straight down in between his fingers and then into his palm or under his thumb across the wrist?

Do we know?
 
ATL11, from what I remember of the reports at the time, they talked of the radius and ulna and their associated nerves being severed, which suggests that the site of the injury was actually at his wrist. In other words, when they say that his hand was almost severed they mean severed from his body. Anyway, I'm glad that he seems to be making progress!
 
Thanks for that, I was just worried that any cut to the Palm would he lose sensation and ability to grip the steering wheel? With a wrist injury, this isn't going to affect as bad his ability to change gears using the paddle system.

Though would it? I probably don't know enough medically to understand what if any an injury like that would restrict Kubica's movement of his hand?

Great news on his recovery I really had high hopes for a win this season, but just to see him back in a car this time next year will do me.
 
Unfortunately, the only close example I can think of offhand is that of Alessandro Nannini. Although he returned to driving following his accident, he never again had the dexterity required to pilot an F1 car. Of course, Nannini had the disadvantage that they still used a proper gearstick, but a large part of being able to drive at 10 tenths is how you feel the car through the wheel, and how you apply the sort of subconscious microcorrections that keep everything pointed the right way.

Of course, in the other camp is the tale of Archie Scott Brown, who was a maestro in the 1950s despite only really having the use of one arm, but the cars back then were very different beasts! I really hope that BobKub does make a full recovery and returns to F1, but I tend toward the pessimistic side of most things...
 
Here is something that the 5live boys considered - I think it was on the chequered flag podcast (which by the way you should check out - it's excellent).

Let's say Heidfeld and Petrov put in some strong performances until, say, race 15 or even a little later. Let's imagine that in Petrov's case, his mistake in Malaysia was not a true display of how far he has developed mentally. If Heidfeld and Petrov keep turning in top 6 performances for the rest of the year, where exactly does Kubica stand in all this? It would be an entirely different scenario to that of Massa, since neither of his replacements amounted to anything, and so they stuck with him, partly, yes, out of loyalty I imagine, but partly also because there was probably no-one else they would really consider.

Petrov has a 2 year deal if I remember correctly. Of course, he brings sponsorship. Under this case, where he is a consistent points scorer in 2011, you'd have to assume that they'd keep him for those 2 years.

Heidfeld though is different. If he gets some podiums, even a win maybe, then would they really replace him with Kubica for the final few races, if Kubica is fit to return? Kubica's return seems unlikely this year from what I've read. There is no doubting Kubica's ability - in fact I would have him as one of my top 5 or 6 drivers in the sport right now. But would he really have done much more than Heidfeld at Sepang? I really doubt it.

Then if we consider that Massa almost certainly has had somewhat of a drop-off since his accident, confused slightly by the domination from his teammate, we might also assume Kubica could face a similar period of time where he struggles to return to full speed. Possibly he is mentally tougher than Massa, but you can never tell for sure. Perhaps even there would be a slight physical handicap in his hand which loses him that last tenth of a second.

Let's say Renault are content with the driver pairing they have now, at the end of the season, would they really take a risk on bringing Kubica out, purely because of his previous assumed abilities? I'm not entirely convinced they would. People will say about this Renault car, "what if Kubica was there, what could he have done", well I'm not really sure he could've done much more than the current two, if anything.

Formula 1 has obviously changed so much in the brief period of this season that Kubica may fall out of sync, he'd lose the knowledge of the tyres, the car, etc etc. It's a very different proposition to come in at, say, Korea, than testing for a few days before his accident.

So where then would that leave Kubica? I'd assume a team somewhere would snap him up hoping he'd lost none of his drive and ability. But whether Kubica will ever be a true front runner again, I'm not sure. I have my doubts, and that is quite a sad proposition.
 
I just hope Kubica being injured doesn't cause Bruno to get a drive, that's like crashing your Lambo and getting a used VW while the Lambo's being fixed.

At least we're seeing Heidfeld given an oppurtunity he undoubtedly deserves. After Heidfeld (probably) beats Petrov this year I can't see them not giving him and Kubica a place. It would be all kinds of heartless not to.

I kept hearing the rumour that Alonso blocked Ferrari from employing Kubica, maybe he wouldn't mind going up against an injured version of Robert?
 
I think if both do well, GLR will see no reason to rush Kubica back before the end of the season, and if they so choose, will put him in their 2012 car.

The advantage of that is they can assess in testing whether Kubica is able to perform as consistently as he is accustomed to doing. Only with a loss of form would give GLR an excuse to parachute out either driver by the end of 2011, and frankly a quicker recovery from Kubica than we've been led to believe will be the case.
 
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