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Kubica reveals he almost crashed at the first corner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Kubica reveals he almost crashed at the first corner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

29-04-2019 19:38
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Williams driver Robert Kubica has admitted to almost crashing his FW42 at his very first braking point during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as the Pole admitted to struggling to control his car for a majority of the race.

The 34-year-old had to start from the pitlane after making changes to his car in parc fermé, as he crashed his car during Q1 in qualifying at turn 8 at the castle section of the Baku City Circuit. Williams opted to make set-up changes and took the according penalty for it.

Kubica turned out to be one of three drivers to start from the pitlane, but as it turns out, it could have been a very short one for the Grand Prix winner.

“It wasn’t an easy race, I made it more complicated by putting the car on the wall [in qualifying],” he told Formula1.com.

“I was nearly on the wall already on the first braking [point], it was a good warning, unfortunately, I suffered all weekend with some issues on braking, the pedal of the car was pulling to one side.

“I got this big warning which was kind of a wake-up [call] and try to bring the car home, it wasn’t easy as I was following some cars on opening laps and it was not giving you at all confidence.

“With walls next to you and with poor grip, we are having it’s really uncomfortable to drive.

“We have to stay positive in the end and we managed to finish the race. It was a long race but thanks to all the team we were able to do it.”