Robert Kubica ended an eight-and-a-half-year drought from the Formula 1 grid at the Australian Grand Prix but had a far-from-straightforward race.
Kubica’s previous race appearance came at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but for 2019 he has stepped up to a seat with Williams, eight years after he sustained severe arm injuries in a rally accident.
Kubica qualified last after clipping the wall in Q1 – on a weekend in which Williams struggled for pace – and went on to finish a thrice-lapped 17th in race trim.
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But the Pole had a far from simple route to bringing up the rear of the pack.
“Actually it was my first standing start in eight years and four months,” he said.
“I never did a standing start on the grid since Abu Dhabi 2010, and actually it was quite good.
“But I actually had a bit of a panic because when I stopped I couldn’t see the lights. The rear wing of the McLaren was hiding it, so I could see the first block but not the rest.
“Then I had to move to the left and there was an additional light so it was a bit of a panic moment.
“I got a good launch but then I had a lot of wheelspin. Running into Turn 1 I took it very safe, I moved a lot to the inside over the kerb, and I once I thought ‘OK, this is over’, I went through the first corner and then from what I saw in car [Pierre] Gasly moved quite a lot to the right.
“I think there was contact with [Carlos] Sainz but I saw it on the video that he moved a lot to the right and he damaged my front wing, but I actually didn’t realise until 100 meters later I lost the whole wing. I thought I lost half of it. Then this wing caused other damage to the car so we had to pit.
“The car was not feeling great, then additionally three laps into the race I lost one of the mirrors, which makes it even more difficult with blue flags! So it was quite difficult.
“Once I was in clear air I was told the pace was not bad, actually it was good for the car with the state it was in, and I nearly started laughing because from the inside it felt very bad.”
Kubica was nonetheless upbeat regarding his own personal performance in the circumstances.
“I’m leaving Australia with definitely more experience, and reasonably happy,” he said.
“Although I would never think that I would say something like this having this pace and finishing so far behind, but that’s the reality.”
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