2019 Williams Racing driver, and one-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica finished the weekend with two 14th places in a field of 15 on his DTM debut at Spa Francorchamps.
Following an acrimonious departure from the Williams F1 squad at the end of a difficult 2019 during which Kubica – Poland’s only ever Formula 1 driver – scored the team’s sole point, Kubica jumped ship to DTM and a reserve driver role at Alfa Romeo as part of the title-sponsorship deal that saw Orlen – Polish petrochemical company – pump an alleged £20m into the team.
Kubica spent much of the season (a season where he’d finish 0/20 against team mate George Russell in qualifying) decrying his car and his team, alleging them of favouring Russell and giving him deliberately sub-standard equipment as a result.
Kubica, and his fervent Polish support, would claim that this rather than his lengthy time away from Formula 1, his age, or his disability, was the reason behind his time deficit to Russell pretty much everywhere, in every session.
They would also use it to bolster Kubica’s claim for a second season in Formula 1, following his return from a horrific injury sustained in the 2011 Rally of Andorra that looked certain to have ended his Formula 1 career.
However, rather than freeing himself from the shackles of a horrible Williams team that cruelly wanted him to fail and heading directly to the pointy end of the DTM grid in preparation for a full season with Alfa Romeo in F1 in 2021, it would seem that Kubica is now finding his new challenge equally as difficult.
I’d be very surprised if anyone at Alfa Romeo (or any other F1 team for that matter – he was even being touted for the second Ferrari drive in 2021 following Sebastian Vettel’s announcement that he would leave the Scuderia at the end of the year FFS!) are going to be so overwhelmingly impressed by a couple of last but one finishes in a severely depleted DTM field that they make space for him any time soon, and as such, it looks like his F1 dream might be over for good.
And dare I say it – he (and his rabid support) may just have to accept that – while the FW42 was an absolute dog of a car – he was at least partially responsibility for his poor showing.
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