Kubica set for Williams F1 test driver role?
Robert Kubica might not have completely lost out in his shot at joining Williams for the 2018 Formula 1 world championship with the British team rumoured to be offering him a test driver role.
The former F1 Grand Prix winner looks set to miss out on a full-time drive to Sergey Sirotkin after the post-season tyre test in Abu Dhabi with the Russian predicted to be announced as Lance Stroll’s team-mate for the 2018 season.
Robert Kubica might not have completely lost out in his shot at joining Williams for the 2018 Formula 1 world championship with the British team rumoured to be offering him a test driver role.
The former F1 Grand Prix winner looks set to miss out on a full-time drive to Sergey Sirotkin after the post-season tyre test in Abu Dhabi with the Russian predicted to be announced as Lance Stroll’s team-mate for the 2018 season.
After being turned down by Renault halfway through last year as the French squad opted to take Carlos Sainz Jr on loan from Red Bull for the upcoming season, Kubica’s fairytale return to F1 looked over after reports emerged of the Polish driver struggling with the Pirelli tyres despite calming fears over his fitness having suffered a partially severed right forearm in a rally accident in 2011.
But Kubica’s dreams of an F1 comeback might not be over as reports emerged in French newspaper L'Equipe that the Polish driver could be offered a test role at Williams with Sirotkin taking the race seat alongside Stroll as Felipe Massa’s replacement.
Williams has remained silent on its 2018 F1 driver line-up but an official announcement is expected in the coming days as it ramps up preparations for the new season and pre-season testing in Barcelona which begin on the 26th February.
The British team remains the only F1 squad yet to confirm its line-up for a second consecutive year having been part of last year’s driver shake-up when 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg opted to retire from the sport just days after clinching the title which triggered Valtteri Bottas’s move to Mercedes and the return of Massa having initially announced his retirement from the sport.
Kubica last competed in F1 in 2010 with Renault before his accident but since recovering has spent the majority of his time racing in the World Rally Championship plus a handful of sportscar outings. He has enjoyed two private tests for Williams in a 2014-specification F1 car before taking part in the 2018 tyre test in Abu Dhabi last November. Pirelli chief Mario Isola felt Kubica deserved more track time to get up to speed with the new tyres and was impressed by the Pole's performances.
