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Kubica: Yes I signed a deal to drive Ferrari in 2012
https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/07/11 ... i-in-2012/
Robert Kubica has revealed that half a dozen years ago he could have been racing for Ferrari, but a freak accident at a minor rally in Italy changed his life’s path reminding us all how different things may have been and explained that he was not rallying merely for fun.
The Pole ended the final test session of the 2011 season fastest of all when driving for Renault and unknown to most had a Maranello contract in his pocket. But that crash on 6 February 2011 on the Ronde di Andora rally changed what could have been.
Speaking on the official F1 podcast, Kubica was asked if he had a deal to join Fernando Alonso in red for 2012 and beyond, he replied, “Yes.”
Revealing he had a signed contract with Ferrari under team leadership of Stefano Domenicali at the time, while admitting he would be banking less money than he was doing at Renault for the privilege of wearing the Prancing Horse badge on his overalls.
Kubica elaborated on the F1 dream,”First [goal] is to enter F1. Second is to become established in F1, so you have good value, a good reputation, which is more difficult than to enter. Third, you win a world championship or become a Ferrari driver.”
“I haven’t won a world championship, in the end I haven’t become a Ferrari driver but I was very close.”
Kubica’s horrific injuries were kept very private for the first year or so after the accident, with the Pole seldom seen in public. His recovery was slow and tough but consistent and by 2012 he was rallying again!
The remarkable journey since then is well documented and has led him back to Formula 1 as a well-respected reserve and test driver for Williams.
Looking back, Kubica said he had little time to think about Formula 1 while on the mend, “My recovery was so hard that for the first 16-18 months it did not hurt. I was fighting, I was concentrating on recovery, I was going through a difficult period.”
But as he rehabilitated reality sunk in, “The more time was going the more difficult it was becoming, because the hope that things can get sorted were disappearing. There were moments I was recovering extraordinarily good and there were then months when surgeries went wrong and I went back six months instead of improving.”
“It was painful [not racing in F1] but it was not more painful because I knew I was going to race for Ferrari.”
The one-time grand prix winner also revealed that doing rallying was not merely for fun, he was using it as a platform to gain an edge over his rivals and improve himself as a race driver, “It’s true that I paid a big price – and I’m still paying it. But it was not purely for fun.”
“There was something behind it. I was not talking about it, but probably what really happened is that the desire to become a better driver, a more complete driver, the desire of finding something which others they don’t have or that I can improve… I think at every moment we can learn something.”
Kubica recalled what motivated him at the time, “I was not happy to be as good as I was. I need more. I thought rallying would give me this. And it gave me [that]. The problem is I paid too high a price. I was searching for something away from Formula 1 which would make me become a better Formula 1 driver.”
“I was trying to learn things that the other drivers I was racing… they don’t have it. I still think, in some circumstances and conditions, thanks to rallying, which I was doing very little, I scored more points in 2010 than if I had not done it.”
Kubica pinpointed where he found improvements he could use in Formula 1 which he learnt while dabbling in rallying, “Sensitivity… Many times it happened that I didn’t stop to put intermediates on and kept going on slicks. Everyone else was [pitting] and I gained massive positions.”
“Those things you cannot see. The only one who can judge and can understand is yourself, because sensitively and sensibility on the steering wheel, only the driver can know what he needs.”
“The desire to become even better, I was not happy to be as good as I was. I needed more and I thought rallying would give me this. And it really gave me the problem, I paid too high a price…” added Kubica.