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Kubica: Formula 1 completely different in some ways

Kubica: Formula 1 completely different in some ways

22-04-2019 10:15
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Bobby Vincent

Robert Kubica believes Formula 1 is now "completely different" ever since his return to the sport after an eight-year absence from the competition.

Kubica returned for his first race in F1 at the Australian Grand Prix since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Pole suffered a serious rally-car crash back in 2011 that forced him out of the sport, and since he's been back - there are plenty of aspects of F1 that have changed, in his view.

"There's a lot of things which are the same and you get exactly the same feeling or the same approach," Kubica told Race Fans. "But there are things which are completely different like managing the tyres."

In 2010, when Kubica last raced, the official tyre supplier for Formula 1 was Bridgestone and nowadays, Pirelli supply the rubber for the sport which takes some getting used to, the Williams driver admitted.

"In general, the pace, race-pace, is completely different to the past, especially in our situation where we struggle with the grips," Kubica added. "The tyres are an extremely important factor and it's a topic where you have to put a lot of attention."

Kubica is in undoubtely one of the two slowest cars on the grid this season, with Williams really struggling at the back of the grid. But Kubica insists he had "no doubts" over his return to F1: "I didn't have any doubts, but for sure, as I haven't done long races in the past the last years there is always kind of a question mark.

"My physical level is good and I didn't have any problems during the races which was something most of the people were worried about. It came out that we shouldn't be worried about this. I was expecting it."