Abu Dhabi: Robert Jozef Kubica has a lot of firsts to his name. With less than a week to go from his 35th birthday on December 7, the Polish driver wants to bid goodbye with no regrets as he starts on the grid in a F1 race possibly for the last time at this Sunday’s race at the Yas Marina Circuit.
“I will not regret anything. First of all, nobody had put a gun on me when I was deciding [on the comeback]. I have spent the last year with the team and I knew from the start that it wouldn’t be easy. Of course, we did face some more issues than last year, especially at the beginning of the season, which were very unfortunate. But then, this is racing,” Kubica told media in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
“Still my goal was to come back, and from a human and personal point of view this has been a great achievement. Of course, as a race driver, this season has been very tough. But in the first place, the decision was made by passion and by trying to achieve a goal.”
Kubica was announced as the Williams driver in January last year following a long absence from the sport. He was with the Williams team throughout the 2019 season, only to reveal before the Singapore Grand Prix that he would be parting ways with the UK-based set-up after the race in Abu Dhabi.
So far, Kubica is the first and only Polish driver to compete in Formula 1. Between 2006 and 2009, he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team after being promoted from test driver during 2006. In June 2008, Kubica took his maiden Formula 1 victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, becoming the first Polish driver to win a F1 race. That season, he led the championship at one stage, before finishing fourth overall — his best career position ever.
Kubica drove for Renault in 2010 and was set to stay with the team in 2011. A few years later, he revealed that he had signed a pre-contract for the 2012 season with Ferrari, a move that was eventually cancelled after his devastating rally crash that led to a partial amputation of his forearm during a crash on the first stage of the Ronde di Andora rally in the first week of February 2011.
Kubica’s racing career may not exactly over with the Pole currently in talks with the World Endurance Championship and the World Rally Championship. And given the fact that this may be his one last chance in F1 racing, Kubica wants to leave an impression of sorts. “It would be nice to leave the season knowing that we tried our best and this is what is the case of the guys here working. I think although we did have a tough season, not only for the drivers but for the guys, everyone who is working on track, it’s still good to see how the team stayed motivated and the guys kept working really hard. We’ve not had anything spectacular, and there is not a lot to say I think about the season,” Kubica told medica, on Friday.
Kubica has mentioned that ideally he would try and strike a compromise with the F1 and rallying. But, there’s been a delay going forward in actually making this collaboration happen. “It’s not just about me, but about many more parties involved in my next move. So, it can be a bit complicated,” Kubica related.
“What is good is that everybody is trying their best, although it is not easy sometimes to combine things, but everybody is on the same wavelength. I think at the moment it is only about getting things sorted and then everything will be all right,” he added.
Kubica has also decided which F1 team he wants to be associated with in the future, but refrained from naming any. “I have my idea, but I would say my racing programme is 100 per cent up to me,” he mentioned.
“We want to see if we can match everything together as I think would be beneficial for everyone. So sometimes, it takes more time than only me taking my decision,” he shrugged.