Williams confirm interest in 2018 Kubica drive

Williams has confirmed that Robert Kubica is one of the drivers it has shortlisted for a 2018 drive. The Grove-based squad has not yet confirmed its complete line-up for next season, however it is heavily expected that Lance Stroll will retain his position at the team.

There has been a question mark hanging over who will fill the second seat, with Kubica emerging as a strong contender. The Pole is attempting to make a spectacular comeback six years after suffering a life-threatening rally crash, which resulted in having part of his forearm amputated.

Speaking to Sky F1 at Malaysia, chief technical officer Paddy Lowe revealed: "Robert is definitely a very interesting opportunity and that's included in our assessment. We are not in any great hurry, there's no time limit particularly on that, there's no urgency because most of the other seats have now been set. It's something we are working on but we have no particular timeframe for that."

The first day of running in Malaysia was a mixed one for Williams. Lowe explained that both drivers seemed to be pretty happy on the low fuel runs, but had their long-run programmes ended prematurely when a red flag brought out the session to an early end.

"The pace was reasonable on low fuel and the drivers were relatively happy with the car," he stated. "On high fuel runs, Felipe only managed a few laps and Lance had only just started before the session was red flagged. We need to do some more work this evening and see where we can position ourselves ready for qualifying tomorrow."

Fergal Walsh