Robert Kubica, Williams, Hockenheimring, 2019

Kubica has “mixed feelings” about first point since return

2019 German Grand Prix

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Robert Kubica says he has “mixed feelings” about scoring his first point since returning to Formula 1 at a race he was not competitive in.

The Williams driver took the chequered flag in 12th place in Germany after getting ahead of team mate George Russell when he went off in the second half of the race. Kubica was promoted to tenth place, and the final point, when the two Alfa Romeo drivers were given 30-second time penalties.

Without those penalties, 12th place would still have been Williams’ best result of the season so far. But Kubica admitted he isn’t entirely pleased with his promotion to the top 10.

“It’s a bit mixed feelings in the end,” he said in today’s FIA press conference. “It’s good to have this one point on the scoreboard but the way it came for sure is not something you would expect.

“Of course it was a crazy race, many mistakes. We managed to stay on-track although our pace was questionable. But still, we managed to keep it on the black and then with Alfa being penalised we gained two positions so it meant that we would be tenth which is for sure good.

“But still we have to keep working, keep pushing. Definitely this point somehow is thanks to the guys which are doing a great job on-track, pushing really hard. We are really not having a great moment but still they keep working really hard and Hockenheim was also thanks to them.”

Kubica doubt Williams will be competitive this weekend at a track which does not play to their car’s key strength: it’s power unit.

“Thanks to Mercedes, the power unit is the strongest part of our car,” he said. “This track is very complex. There are sections which require a lot of mechanical and aero grip. So I would say it is not the kind of track where we will be closer to the competition than the others.”

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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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11 comments on “Kubica has “mixed feelings” about first point since return”

  1. Always Mr. Honesty. Good bloke, though a lost talent. Is he the first disabled driver to score a point in f1? I hope he gets a few more points, us fans are sticking with him. It is estimated 60,000 polish fans will be at hungaroring this weeing, 1/3 the crowd rooting for a legend, a legend that is currently the slowest in f1! But that is sport, support no matter what. The Polish crowd today (Thursday) filled out the whole main front straight of hungaroring, chanting kubicas name for hours in 40c heat.

    1. “Thanks to Mercedes”

      Straight to the point.

    2. Thats not sport thats nationalism

      1. What a sad life you have

  2. > Is he the first disabled driver to score a point in f1

    It probably depends on what you consider a disability, but Johnny Herbert comes to my mind who suffered similar injuries as Kubica, although at his legs.

  3. there’s just that single importunate thought how it all would actually went, if he got proper midfield car at his disposal this year, instead of a junk like nobody’s seen for years…

    1. Unless it was Lance, he would look even worse compared to his team mate.

      1. I’m biased because I’m a fan of RK but it’s hard to judge whether he’d look worse than anyone else on the grid in the same car. Different evolutions of cars suit different driving styles and granted a supreme talent should be able to shine comparatively to their teammate in the same hardware but as others have said, RK is arguably the bigger rookie this year than GR and who is to say that GR isn’t a phenomenal talent and the comparison is exaggerated?

  4. Why should he have mixed feelings? He kept the car on the track and finished classified in the slowest car on the grid. As we saw, in these conditions, that was no mean feat. Even the eventual winner spun and almost binned it. Also, it’s easy to forget the slowest cars on the grid are also often the most ill-handling with the least downforce—but still 900hp to fling you into the wall at any time.

  5. He should be proud of his performance no question.

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