0
Kubica says that his Williams car felt “strange” on race day at Suzuka, and suggested that his car had changed considerably from the one he drove in free practice on Friday.
The Pole has endured a challenging return to F1 this season after an eight-year absence and has so far been out-qualified 17-0 by his rookie teammate George Russell.
After announcing at the recent Singapore Grand Prix that he would leave Williams at the end of the season, Kubica was then reportedly unhappy with his team’s decision to retire his car at the following race in Russia, a move that prompted Kubcica’s sponsor PKN Orlen to demand an explanation from the team.
Now, after crashing in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix and finishing 30s adrift of Russell in the race, Kubica believes something had been changed on his car and suggested the decision had not been made by “people who are here”.
“I think [the accident in qualifying] was [due to] a lack of enough attention on the last corner opening up the lap, but anyway, things were a bit strange before getting me in the car, I really didn’t like it,” said Kubica.
“I was hoping after the disappointment in Russia [when Williams opted to retire his car] we would be here trying to do our best, and this was what we tried to do on Friday.”
Kubica felt his pace during Friday practice - when he was 0.1s quicker than Russell in FP2 - gave him cause for optimism but that same feeling was not present when he left the garage on Sunday morning.
“Actually, on Friday I ended up with quite good feelings but my feelings were probably too good,” said Kubica.
“Conditions were different [on Sunday] but Friday gave me quite a lot of confidence in the car, we agree on something and then on Sunday morning things change for whatever reason, I think it was not the decision of people who are here.
“I don’t want to go into the details but I think after Russia where [Williams performance was disappointing] and when you have a driver who says for the [first time in a long time] that I can drive the car properly and I am exploring car, this is what [you’d expect the team] will look to have, but for whatever reason…”
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
4 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Robert Kubica
158,025 comments on Williams 39 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Williams
Replies (0)
Login to reply