Kubica names his biggest regret in his Formula 1 career

Robert Kubica was among the greatest talents of his generation. In 2008, he even had the prospect of fighting for the F1 World Championship. 'If' and 'maybe' mean nothing in sport, but Kubica's career could have been so different. "My biggest regret would be for sure in 2008 that we didn’t push with BMW to try to win the championship that year," he told GPblog during an exclusive interview.

It seemed the prelude to the perfect season: thanks to his victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, Kubica suddenly found himself in first place in the Formula 1 world championship. If there was ever one chance to take that title, it was that year with BMW-Sauber. But as good as the performances of the first half of the season were, they were disappointing in the second part. With fourth place in the final standings, Kubica's performance that year was not done justice.

'We just gave up'

It was his best position in the Formula One World Championship. Perhaps there could have been more with Renault in 2011, but Kubica had a severe accident during a rally before the season. It left him with a permanent injury, mainly to his hand and arm. Still, he managed to return to F1, but after an unsuccessful year at Williams in 2019, the Pole opted for a reserve role at Alfa Romeo. That, too, is a thing of the past.

"Yeah, but when it's over, it's over, I don't look really back too much," said Kubica in an exclusive interview with GPblog. "My biggest regret would be in 2008 that we didn’t push with BMW to try to win the championship that year. We just gave up, and this is something which you never know if you will have another chance."

Meanwhile, the 38-year-old's career in Formula 1 seems to have ended. "No, I never said this," he bounces back. "Some journalists stated that I was announcing the end of my career, which we know how media sometimes works. So, to be honest, realistically, with testing, I will not close the door."

"Of course, testing is very limited in F1, but there is a big regulation change coming. There are potentially new people and new teams joining F1, and you never know. I’m at a good mature age of understanding not only cars but also what it takes and what it brings to make the car competitive. I would say it might open some possibilities. I'm not saying it will open, but I will not close it 100%. Regarding races, I would say it's nearly over, but it is not over. Don't close the door, but realistically speaking, I see it's very, very difficult. I would like to be involved in a role that can help a project grow and to be an active part of it, not only attending a debrief. What is the chance? I don't know."

Kubica is still an icon in his own country. Young kids want to be the new Kubica with a great career in motorsport. "That was kind of a big boom when I joined Formula 1," the driver - currently racing in the World Endurance Championship(WEC) for Team WRT - looks back. "Hardly anyone was watching F1. If you talk about it in the nineties in Poland, they have no clue what you are talking about. When a karting club appeared in Poland in the middle of the nineties, people thought, this is what I’m doing. There was no knowledge. Now, many things have changed in Poland, and many things are positively moving forward. We have much more young karting drivers who are competitive."

"When I was doing international races, I was the only one. They were asking: 'Where are you from?' You say Poland, they were looking like, where is it in Europe? Now we have a really strong quantity. When you have higher quantities, you have a higher chance of having someone talented and who grows up to be a professional race driver. I know that it's not easy [to have an F1 driver]. I know it requires a lot of work. I know it requires a lot of factors that have to go together. The goal to achieve it is very complicated, and you must have luck. So Polish drivers or young drivers racing have to aim to become a professional driver and work on themselves to improve. Because only by doing this might you open a chance to go to F1."