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Robert Kubica is free to drive for Renault during the second day of the Budapest test on Wednesday after passing the FIA's cockpit extraction test with flying colours.
Every new or returning F1 driver, according to the FIA's regulations, must be able to exit the cockpit of their car within five seconds - from a regular sitting position whilst they are fully strapped in. They must then be able to replace its steering wheel within ten seconds to pass the examination.
The FIA has now confirmed, after some doubt due to the injuries he sustained during his 2011 rally accident, that Kubica did indeed satisfy its requirements, passing the test on Monday. He will sit on the Renault pit wall to observe team-mate Nicholas Latifi on the test's opening day, before taking the wheel himself on Wednesday for his first laps in Renault's 2017 machine.
It is said that the test will help Renault decide once and for all whether Kubica really could make a full F1 return as early as next season; he has already impressed it during runs in older cars. After his recent test in a 2012 car at Valencia, Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul revealed that a group of people within the team had long been pursuing a Kubica comeback.
"There is at Enstone a group of people composed of Bob Bell, Nick Chester, Alan Permane, all these people have known Robert as a driver, have worked with him, and over the years - including when Robert was completely outside of the radar - they have maintained contact with him," Abiteboul said.
"And that's something that they always discussed; what if, as a dream he was capable of driving again in this type of circumstance?"
Mason Hawker
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