Comments on: Robert Kubica: the driver debates

By: antonis

antonis — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:51:40 +0000

Well, kubica might be even the fastest f1 driver today but i would never recruit him in my team…and that because he is not fighting at all when racing on sunday. How many times have we seen drivers pass him like he ain’t even there…how many times he was stuck behind a slower car and never made a move to overtake…Take as it is gents, Kubica might be really fast but i doubt he will ever make a formula one champion…he ain’t got it.

By: Gman

Gman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:22:31 +0000

No doubt Kubica is a rising star, and has as good a shot as any driver currently on the grid at a future championship. In terms of teams he should absolutley stay with BMW- they have the resources and skill to put together a championship package, and he has a chance to be the frontman for a whole new championship contender. He appears to fit wel with the team, and can be linked with BMW in the same fashion as Lewis is linked with McLaren.

By: Pink Peril

Pink Peril — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:56:29 +0000

I think that Kubica would be better served staying with the good Doctor than going to Ferrari.

He is a deep thinker & planner, that one, methodical and measured in his approach. Not suited to the dramas, traditional chaos and histronics of the red team.

S’funny, but I think the Pole will be better off to stick with the Germans (might be the first time in history anyone has ever said that )

By: ukk

ukk — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:21:15 +0000

Just to make myself clear on the Ferrari going downhill: I meant the whole team and its results, not just the technical aspect, although I think this will follow too when the momentum is gone.
Their race strategy lacks Ross and Michael, their team and development strategy lacks Jean and Rory. I judge this by the symptoms which are the same as ones they had before Schumacher – wrong decisions, reliability issues and inconsistent showing in every race.

Btw, to get back to the Cubica topic: don’t see him fitting the culture at Ferrari too – Peter tells it well in his comment.

By: Paige

Paige — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:01:54 +0000

Nick,

You have to be joking me. Kubica’s pace has been darned impressive this year, particularly in races. I’m guessing you didn’t watch Monaco this year, when he was trading fast laps with Massa; or Montreal, when he put on barn-burner laps to get and keep the lead through pit cycles.

As for his overtaking ability:

http://hotflick.net/videos/Rob_Webber/USmPffTMJHc.html

Most of the clips are from last year, but still, he’s shown plenty of times to be a great overtaker.

By: Wesley

Wesley — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:54:46 +0000

I can’t see Kubica in a Ferrari,just doesn’t seem right.I think his driving style and personality fit in at BMW very well. BMW is on the rise and I hope that Kubica will hang in there and grow with them.Doing so would make him the heart of the team and and gain him much loyalty from the rest of the crew.I am sure BMW will be looking to replace Heidfeld with another top driver to side along Kubica if he stays though.I hate to say that since Heidfeld is my favorite but, he is just not performing as well.

By: Becken

Becken — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:48:02 +0000

I wrote this on Clive´s blog some weeks ago:

In 2002 I was at Interlagos waiting for the final round of the Brazilian Formula Renault championship.

There´s an invited driver named Robert CUBICA whom (with a car that he never saw before) was the devastated fast one at any time that the cars were on track: Free practices, classification and race.

This guy took the pole and after the start took “S” of Senna and none could touch him until the end of the race. He finished 12 seconds ahead of the second man in a race with 17 laps.

Obviously, we wanted to know a little bit more about him but we just discover that he was from Poland (what a strange thing at that moment!) and Formula Renault driver in Europe.

I only heard about him again when he were at BMW as a test driver. But when a saw him driving as he did at his debut, I was not surprised.

I think that I was privileged to see Robert at his first years and all guys around on that day talked about his sort of humble attitude with all journalists and other drivers…

Yes, he is a championship-winning material and the right place to do this job is, I´m sure, BMW. Great resources, great management of drivers and I nice environment to increase his confidence!

By: Sush

Sush — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:39:02 +0000

awesome, so you have become a diety in poland too Keith?, I mean come on, you was in a newspaper!

regarding overtaking, even though he’s coming from way back the field you can’t ignore his skill in both overtaking and stopping others from overtaking him….. even last year Hamilton and Alonso had trouble overtaking in what was the second fastest car.

By: amy

amy — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:35:23 +0000

I would not say Ferrari are going downhill at all. Their startegy is what is letting them down, not the car. They are still leading the championship at the moment (constructors), both drivers are within a shout of the WDC and Massa proved in hungary they are still as quick as mclaren.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:59:52 +0000

Nick – I think the only reasons Heidfeld is showing overtaking skill is because he’s been qualifying so poorly.

Jean – BMW tweaking the car to suit Heidfeld? Don’t believe a word of it. The car’s dropping off the pace and Heidfeld’s qualifying performances in the last few races are nothing special.

Sush – Yup, that’s what happened. Biggest traffic spike ever on F1 Fanatic – dwarfing even ‘Mosley gets a spanking‘ and ‘Hamilton crashes into Raikkonen‘

Ferrari going downhill? I’m not sure. Technically they’re pretty much as strong as ever (I think there were signs even in 2006 they were starting to push reliability too far). I don’t necessarily think he should leave BMW, because they’ve hardly made a wrong move yet, but if Ferrari came knocking it would be hard to resist.