On this week #49: Robert Kubica
This coming Saturday 7 December, Robert Kubica turns 40. Born in Krakow (Poland) in 1984, his name has become synonymous with hope and perseverance, not just in the context of motor sport but for millions around the world.
His racing career took a crushing blow on 6 February 2011. He was taking part in the Ronde di Andora rally in Italy, when he crashed into a guardrail, suffering very serious injuries. The accident happened just a few weeks before the start of the Formula 1 season that he was due to contest with the Renault team he had joined in 2010. On top of that, he had already reached an agreement, not yet officialised, that he would join Fernando Alonso at Ferrari as from 2012. However, from then on, Kubica had to deal with physical pain and numerous operations aimed at fixing his severely damaged forearm. There was also the intangible trauma of times of solitude, days spent convalescing in a hospital bed, the time spent having to come to terms with the fact he could no longer turn a steering wheel with sufficient force or speed and the darkest hours when there were doubts that he would ever be able to get back to doing what he had fought hard for ever since he was a child. He had to face the realisation that a very successful career, that had seen him on the verge of signing for Ferrari in F1, was apparently over. But it was not.
Robert turned his aggression and determination demonstrated on the track into the energy he needed to once again be a Formula 1 driver. After years of rehabilitation, pain and sacrifice he achieved the unthinkable, firstly getting back to a normal life and then returning to racing, taking part in several rounds of the World Rally Championship and other categories from 2013 to 2016, eventually getting to drive a Formula 1 car in a Grand Prix. After some test sessions in 2018, Robert was taken on by Williams for 2019. The English team, which had won several world titles in the Eighties and Nineties, was going through a very rocky patch, finishing last in the Constructors' standings for four years from 2018 to 2022 and in the year Robert raced with them, it picked up just a single point when. the Pole finished tenth in Hockenheim.
Kubica had succeeded in showing that he could still be a Formula 1 driver, to be competitive at the highest level. Over the next three years, he was the reserve driver for the Alfa Romeo-backed Sauber team, so that he was back on home ground in Hinwil with the team that had given him his Formula 1 break in 2006 and with which he fought for the title in 2008, when it was the official BMW team. During this second period with Sauber he took part in two Grands Prix, at Zandvoort and Monza in 2021, standing in for Kimi Raikkonen. After that his incredible story took on another challenge as he raced in the World Endurance Championship as from 2023. By then, he had already won the title in the 2021 European Le Mans Series and but for a technical problem on the very last lap, he would have won the LMP2 category at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Another second place finish at Le Mans followed on the way to winning the same category with the WRT team. This year, he finally got to race for the Prancing Horse, not in Formula 1, but in the WEC Hypercar category at the wheel of the incredible 499P for the privateer AF Corse team, taking the win at Austin. Also this year, he repeated his victory in ELMS, thus reaching a total of four title wins, if one also counts his win in 2005 in the Formula Renault 3.5 category, back in his previous racing life.
As he hits 40, Robert still has the will to win. To date, he has taken part in 253 races, winning 21 and standing on the podium 62 times (source: driverdb.com). He raced in Formula 1 99 times, winning just once in Canada in 2008, taking one pole position in Bahrain that same year, with 12 podium finishes, and fourth as his best result in the Drivers' championship. “The accident turned my life upside down, but I know that a few centimetres more and I wouldn't be here talking about it,” said Robert in 2018 in an interview with AUTO, the official FIA magazine, during a test for Renault in Budapest. “The biggest job I had to do was in my head. There were terrible moments when I felt I wasn't up to it. It was worse than physical pain, but now I can finally feel at peace with myself, because I am back to being what I was, a Formula 1 driver.”
Today, Robert Kubica is much more than just a talented driver: he is a man who turned adversity into triumph, a living example of how passion and determination can overcome any obstacle. His journey, full of highs and lows, is not just the story of a champion, but it's also a hymn to the strength of the human spirit. He races not only to win, but to show that nothing is impossible. Every time he gets behind the wheel, the sound of the engine tells the story of a hero who never gave up.
Happy birthday Robert!
