One of the greatest collective regrets in the recent history of Formula 1 is linked to the development of Robert Kubica’s career, marred by a serious accident with a rally car before the 2011 Formula One season which compromised his chances of racing for a top team in Formula 1.
The Polish driver, after making his debut in 2006, in fact won his first and only GP in Canada in 2008 with BMW Sauber, attracting more and more interest from the top teams. Not surprisingly, years after the accident that almost cost him his life, Robert Kubica admitted that he had signed a pre-contract with Scuderia Ferrari for the 2012 Formula One championship, replacing Felipe Massa.
The Brazilian himself, recently interviewed by journalists of the Polish site swiatwyscigów.pl, confirmed this story. As a result of Robert Kubica’s injury, the 2008 vice-world champion remained at the Maranello team as Fernando Alonso’s teammate, only to move to Williams in 2014, leaving his seat to Kimi Raikkonen: “It was nice to see him return and be able to live his life, racing and doing what he likes – explained the Brazilian – but I felt very sorry for him, because I was sure he would take my place at Ferrari. It wasn’t a problem for me, because he deserved it, but his accident was something unheard of. It was incredible to see what had happened to him, that he was still alive, as well as the fact that a good driver like him missed an important opportunity for his career. I never thought he would race again” – the former Ferrari driver added.
In addition to this, Felipe Massa then recalled the thrilling battle between him and Robert Kubica which took place during the last lap of the 2007 F1 Japanese GP, when the two also made contact on more than one occasion to fight for the sixth position: “Honestly , looking at what happened in the last lap, I thought we’d be penalized – he admitted – now it’s clearly no longer possible to do certain things like that. At that moment I was sure that one of us, or maybe both of us, could be punished for what we did because it was truly unbelievable. It was the last lap and we tried to do everything possible. I went off the track, I caught him, he went off the track and rejoined, and it was like that in every corner. It was actually a lot of fun from the cockpit. I would say it is comparable to the fight between Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux. It was a really interesting and iconic fight.” – Felipe Massa concluded.
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