Kubica admits comeback chances have dwindled

Robert Kubica believes that it is now less likely he will make a full-time comeback in 2018. The Polish driver was in contention for a Renault seat next season, before the French squad decided to take Carlos Sainz, who joins on loan from Toro Rosso.

Kubica's comeback attempt gathered attention after he completed a test for Renault at Valencia in June, driving the 2012 Lotus E20. Another test at the Circuit Paul Ricard followed before he was drafted in to drive the 2017  Renault at the in-season test at Hungary.

With the position at Renault filled, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner is now looking at a seat at Williams, where Paul di Resta and out-going Renault driver Jolyon Palmer have been linked. With world champion Nico Rosberg now part of his management team, Kubica is still eyeing a return.

"I am very realistic and I know that the possibility of my returning full-time to racing in Formula One is very slight," Kubica told FIA magazine Auto. "Every day, I discover my new limits, but I have always hoped that I'd at least get the chance to give it a go.

"I've done a lot of kilometres in the simulator and I've driven in other categories, but I knew that only driving a Formula One car would give me those special feelings again and that proved to be true.  Life had given me so much and then, in an instant, it took it all away. They say time is a healer but that wasn't the case for me - in fact it made me suffer more.

"The accident turned my life upside down, but I'm aware that a few centimetres more and I wouldn't be here talking about it. The biggest job I had to do was in my own head. There were some terrible times in which I no longer felt up to it. It was worse than a physical pain, but now I can finally feel at peace with myself, because I'm back to being who I was - a Formula 1 driver."

Fergal Walsh