Kubica surprised by Renault progress

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Robert Kubica says he is surprised to have enjoyed such a strong start to his first season with Renault.

Kubica is sixth in the championship with 59 points, 19 behind the two Red Bull drivers. He said:

We had some idea during winter testing of what the car was capable of, we understood its strengths and we worked on maximising them.

But I’m still a bit surprised to have scored so many points, which shows what a good job we are doing as a team.

We have taken the opportunities that have come our way, especially in unusual races like Australia or the wet qualifying session in Malaysia. We’ve also taken our opportunities when the car has been strong, as we did in Monaco.

So I think we can be very pleased with what we have achieved and proud of all the hard work at the factory to bring new parts for the car every weekend.
Robert Kubica

Looking ahead to this weekend’s race in Istanbul he expects the celebrated turn eight to be a tricky proposition with a full fuel load, but flat out in qualifying:

Last year it was nearly flat so we will have to see what it’s like this year. I’m not expecting it to be particularly challenging during qualifying, but it will be at the start of the race when your tyre pressures are low and the car is heavy on fuel.
Robert Kubica

Team mate Vitaly Petrov will be tackling the corner in an F1 car for the first time:

To be honest, in GP2 turn eight was not so difficult but I will need to learn the circuit again in an F1 car. Like every race, my aim will be to do my maximum, and I’m pleased to be driving at a circuit I know well.
Vitaly Petrov

After finishing on the podium in Monaco, team principal Eric Boullier expects a more typical result at Istanbul:

I never like to make predictions, but we have to remember that Istanbul Park is a circuit with completely different characteristics to Monaco. We know that the car works well on tight, twisty circuits, but, as we saw in Barcelona, we still need to find some performance on circuits with a more classic layout.

We will have some more developments in time for this weekend and they should place us somewhere between our Barcelona and Monaco pace, which will give us a good opportunity to fight well inside the points.
Eric Boullier

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Kubica surprised by Renault progress”

  1. polishboy808
    24th May 2010, 14:04

    Good to here that they are expecting to finish better that spain. I hope that means 4th or 5th. Hopefully they’ll have improved by over a second by mid season, then this car will be very competative! I dare say challenging the red bulls for first on circuits like Valencia and Singapore! :)

    1. Yup, Valencia, Singapore and especially Hungary should be the next highlights for Renault.

      1. Montreal as well could be a good chance for them.

        1. polishboy808
          24th May 2010, 15:56

          I hope Kubica wins Montreal, he dominated it in 08′, so hopefully it will be a repeat this year.

          1. Well he had a helping hand with Lewis taking himself and Kimi out and Massa having fuel issues but he was brutally quick all race and it was certainly a well deserved win. He should be in a good position in Montreal this year

  2. I think a win in Montreal for Kubica will seal the deal on a Ferrari seat next season. Its high time we saw Kubica in a race winning car.

  3. it seems like massa heading towards renault for 2011

    1. Why? Possibly it could happen but there hasn’t been a whisper that Massa has had contact with Renault (actually people have been saying he’s mroe likely to end up at RBR :S ) . If Kubica gets the seat and that’s still a big if as Renault seen keen and confident of keeping him (whether he would say no to a team like Ferrari is another thing) then it would be an easy switch but it is still early days.

      I really don’t understand silly season talk this early. At this point last year who would have predicted Button to Mclaren? Kobayashi to Sauber? Heidfeld as a 3rd driver? Glock at Virgin? Although I will be fair as it is a very logical suggestion and much better than one I saw on another forum which said Massa was heading to Force India. Now if that happens I’ll eat my laptop.

      1. I really dislike the wild speculations on some sites about drivers going to teams or not.
        Especially as a lot of them just put something on the net without really looking at the source of the information etc.

        But it would be great to have Massa winning the Indian GP and the WDC in a Force India in 2012! After he does it first in a Red Bull next year?

        1. I don’t think Massa is moving to Renault.Kubica is doing a good job with Renault & don’t find any reason why either of them wants each other out.Similarly why will Re Bull wants Webber out & vice verse.If Massa does moved away from Ferrari then I think that he can join Sauber.

  4. I’m quite surprised and impressed by Renault this year, it shows how good Kubica is. Fast and reliable with a good work ethic. He is a racer at heart. Another thing I like about Renault is the colour scheme and the way they are being able to cover the car with lots of new sponsors after the fiasco last year.

  5. Seems Kubica is giving positive signals back to Renault. I do not see him moving to any other team too soon. They look like a good team with working chemics between them on a way to prove something.

  6. I do believe that Kubica will be good in Montreal But I am afraid to say they may struggle in Turkey as they did in Spain if they don’t bring any major upgrade.

  7. I like this new Renault, they seem almost honest, Boullier is actually speaking realistically, and Kubica is saying what he thinks….. Do they allow this sort of behaviour any more?

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