Kubica’s road to recovery and beyond

The last time I interviewed Robert Kubica, on 31 January 2011, everything was different. It was the day before the first test of the new Renault R31 at Valencia and Kubica talked about his hopes that the team could build on a promising, but winless, 2010 campaign and finally give him the chance to emerge as the title contender he undoubtedly had the ability to be.

Six days later, Kubica suffered a horrific accident on the Ronde di Andora Rally. It was a crash that could have killed him, but while the 29-year-old is still very much with us, and competing at a high level in the World Rally Championship, what happened has savagely changed the course of his life.

In Autosport’s 16 January 2014 issue this year, we rated Kubica as the third best driver never to have won the F1 world title. There was plenty of reader feedback questioning so lofty a position, but having had the privilege of seeing Kubica in action in F1, there’s no doubt his absence from grand prix racing for the past three and a half seasons has robbed us of the chance of seeing some spectacular performances.

Kubica is acutely aware of what he has lost. It would, of course, be a mistake only to look at his accident in terms of what consequences it has had on his career. After multiple surgeries and a painful rehabilitation process, he deserves enormous credit for showing the determination to make a competitive comeback in rallying.

But there is a tinge of sadness at meeting up with him again in Tuscany, the day after the Monaco GP, and seeing someone who demonstrated such brilliance in their pomp limited from doing what he is best at by the injuries to his right arm. Fortunately, what remains is the sheer unbridled enthusiasm and passion of someone who lives for motorsport.

Autosport: Do you now look back on Formula 1 as something in the past rather than somewhere it’s possible to go back to?

Robert Kubica: F1 has been, and still is, a big part of my life; the biggest part of my life. It’s not an easy time because many people think I look at F1 only backwards.

I know my limits and that, for now, it is impossible for me to get back to the level I was. But I could drive an F1 car. If you said, ‘Robert, you will be doing a test at Barcelona in five months’ I would start preparing and I’m pretty sure I would have no big problems. But there are other circuits where I would have big issues.

The reality is that, for now, it’s impossible for me to compete at a circuit like Monaco. F1 has a big effect on my life and unfortunately, the story ended earlier than I expected.

For me, 2010 was a very good year from a driving point of view even though, results-wise, it wasn’t great. But then I stopped racing in F1 after the year that I gave the best performance of my life.

Everybody remembers the last race you did, but when you judge the season you have to look at the big picture. When you know you have had a good year, you are pleased about it.

AS: You weren’t just another F1 driver, but one that could win the world championship. Is that something that comes into your thought process and you look back and think, ‘I could’ve really done something’, or is it not something you ever dwell on?

RK: It’s difficult when you see Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton] winning. We were driving against each other since 1998, together nearly every year. There were years when I was in front of them and there were seasons when they were more competitive. But the level was very similar.

Then you think you could do the same, maybe slightly better or maybe slightly worse. Who knows? But it is not for me to judge if I was able to be at the top of F1 or not.

AS: Has the time out of F1 changed your perspective and understanding of what was going on when you were racing? Are you mentally almost a better driver now than you were four years ago?

RK: Racing is still in my blood. I follow F1 more from a spectator point of view, but watching races is not easy.

The Pole found it hard to see F1 head to places he held fond memories at post-injury

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

This time of year is most difficult – I discover it every year – and there are some races which I miss more and some races I miss less. There are some moments when I have stronger memories and the time between Monaco and Canada is the most difficult for me because I have the best memories from these places as I won in Canada in 2008.

Monaco, because I really love street tracks and it’s really the circuit I enjoy driving. But life is about going forward and I have to keep my mind busy. I know that if your mind is not busy enough you start thinking too much.

Unfortunately, things will not change by looking backwards. I had very good years in F1 and it’s something that’s in my memory, my heart. I know my place in F1, which I worked for. This is the most important thing, although the results, of course, are also important.

AS: Despite your interest in F1, we haven’t seen you at a grand prix since your last race in Abu Dhabi in 2010. Why is that?

RK: Last year, I was competing in a German rally so I tested the week before. There was a DTM race at Nurburgring, I had a plan to go and see the race. I called Toto [Wolff, Mercedes boss] to ask I could come and he said, ‘No problem’. On Sunday morning I left Trier and I started feeling, ‘I should go… I should not go’.

So I went to Nurburgring, but half an hour before, when I started driving around the area and memories came back, I texted Toto and asked to meet at his hotel. But that was next to the circuit and when I get there Auto GP was on track. When I heard the sound [of the cars] I met Toto in the hotel for breakfast and then I went back to Trier. I suddenly got a feeling that I didn’t like.

Last winter, I nearly went to Barcelona to see an F1 test day because I am curious to see how it had changed. But I preferred to stay at home and see it on the screen. At home, I have no journalists asking me the same questions and no photographers!

I miss F1. I would give everything to be able to be back in an F1 car. But to watch the race in hospitality is not so attractive for me. It would also give me the feeling of missing something.

AS: When you look at F1, do you see something you know you should still be part of?

RK: Yeah. It doesn’t make me feel guilty, but many people tell me, ‘You were doing this [rallying when you should have been focused on F1] when you crashed’. They don’t realise that I am the first one saying this! If someone had told me how it would end up, I would never have done rallies.

Kubica started rallying during his F1 career to find a competitive edge, but is the first to know that he wouldn’t have done it if it risked such a serious injury

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

I was keen to do rallies because they gave me something extra. Top F1 drivers are more or less on the same level, so I was searching for something that would give me an edge.

For example, during a test if it starts raining and the circuit is half damp/half dry you will not drive. But on the race weekends, if it happens you have to drive. So rallying made me a better driver. Maybe not a quicker driver, but a more complete driver. Of course, it ended up badly, but that’s life.

AS: So the desire to do the rallying was part of the mentality that made you so good in F1, and you can’t have one without the other?

RK: Normally I don’t read about F1. But I know Felipe [Massa] said that I should not be rallying now and he’s right. But this is Felipe’s mentality. Thanks to my mentality, I made it to F1. I didn’t come from a country that had an F1 history and did not have big sponsors behind me. I was lucky to have good people who helped, but my career would have stopped when I was 13 or 17 without the mentality and character that helped me to F1.

When I started racing at international level in karting at 13, driving was everything. In 2001 I was living in the workshop and I didn’t go to school or anything. I spent all day in the factory and workshop with the mechanics. For me, enjoying life was driving.

AS: But you have had a taste of F1 since your accident, you have done work for Mercedes in the simulator. How did that come about?

RK: It was part of my recovery and started as one opportunity. It was good for my body and good for my mind as well. And people were happy with what I was doing to help them. So I did a few sessions there, sometimes between the end of free practice and qualifying on race weekends.

I was keen to do it but unfortunately later in the year rallying became more stressful. In order to do well there, I didn’t like doing too many things, so I let it go. The difficulty with the simulator is that you don’t have such good feedback from the chassis and from the car.

In reality, you feel everything with your back and ass but because everything is virtual your concentration tends to be lower, especially when you stay in for a long time because you aren’t risking anything. You need to be consistent and drive in the same way in order to give good feedback and improve.

Before Canada last year, we did 900 kilometres but this year I haven’t done anything. In the end I let it go, which is a shame, but it was the right decision because I have to focus on one thing.

After initially turning down a move into the DTM, Kubica did race in the German series in 2020

Photo by: ITR eV

AS: Why did you turn down an offer to racing in the DTM with Mercedes and pursue rallying?

RK: Going back to circuits after the accident was the most simple way and the best way from an economic point of view. And it was the best way of using my experience, but somehow it felt too easy. I was not happy because I feel like I stopped F1 and I still had something to prove to myself and to achieve. So I tried to set my new target. Rallying was the more natural way.

I put myself in a completely different category, a completely different sport. Not a lot of people realise how different it is. I knew it would be hard and I knew it would be a difficult step. Last year, it was rallying or DTM and it took me quite long to decide.

But I thought, ‘I am not very young, but I am still not very old and I am still hungry to achieve something’. So I set some targets for rallying and only time will tell if I can achieve them or not.

I also wanted not to have this feeling of missing F1. When I am doing rallies, it keeps my mind really busy, so it’s good.

AS: How is rallying going?

RK: When you are doing circuit racing from a very young age, you learn circuit racing characteristics. When you start to be a rally driver from a young age… OK not so young as karting, but you have to learn typical characteristics for rallying. The difficulty is that in circuits you have one approach, in rallying another approach.

Many times, my circuit habits do not help me. Actually, they are disturbing me and the way I drive is not paying off. You leave too small a margin. And the biggest difference is that on circuits you know exactly what will happen, nearly everything you have under control. In rallying you have nearly nothing under control, especially when you are approaching rallies for first time.

AS: So what’s the plan now – finish the season, keep reprogramming yourself? Do you know what happens next year?

RK: I don’t know and it’s too early to say. But I see things in a very simple way. I had a target in F1 and unfortunately I was not able to achieve it for different reasons. The main reason is because of the accident. So I set a new target.

Kubica’s return in rallying lasted until 2016, before a return to circuit racing proven too much of a pull

Photo by: M-Sport

While I believe that there is a possibility to achieve, then I will try to achieve it. The day I see I cannot do it or because it’s too complicated, then maybe I step back. But stepping back is like losing for me.

By choosing rallying, I knew I was taking a very twisty, difficult road. The way can be very harsh, but when you have big challenges if you achieve them you have big satisfaction. I think after a difficult period and what happened to me, I need a big challenge.

Autosport’s final word

Kubica’s rallying odyssey continues at Rally Sardinia this weekend. While his five WRC outings so far this year have yielded little – four retirements, too many crashes and then a conservative sixth last time out in Argentina – don’t bet against the Pole cracking it in rallying. His pace has stood out, and if he can temper the instincts honed from two decades of circuit racing, he will develop as a serious contender.

But no matter what he achieves in rallying, it’s clear that he should be in F1. The way he talks about driving a grand prix car at the start of the interview – that ‘for now’ it’s impossible to return – reveals that he hasn’t completely given up on it.

To make a comeback would surely involve further painful operations and rehabilitation work with no guarantee of success, but the fact that such an option might even be open to him tells you a lot about the determination of Kubica.

Whatever happens, his record of just one grand prix win does not do justice to his ability. In his pomp, Kubica was brilliant. It’s a tragedy that the world has not had the chance to see him cross swords with the great drivers he was the equal of for the last four seasons.

While his return to F1 wasn’t the dream comeback, what has followed since hasn’t been so bad…

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt