Robert Kubica will get his first real circuit experience behind the wheel of the 2017 Renault Formula 1 car after he was confirmed alongside F2 racer Nicholas Latifi for the two-day post-Hungarian Grand Prix test.
The Polish former F1 race winner has been steadily building towards a remarkable comeback to F1 having already completed two successful test days in a 2012 car at Valencia and Paul Ricard.
Speculation had been rife it would lead to a first outing in the current, faster machinery in Budapest and now that has been confirmed with Kubica set to take part in his first group test of all teams and some old faces since 2011 when the 32-year-old suffered what many thought would be career-ending injuries.
“The first two days of testing allowed both Robert and ourselves to gather a great amount of information,” Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul said.
“The upcoming session with the R.S.17 at the Hungaroring will allow us all to obtain detailed and precise data in a current car and representative conditions.
“After this test, we will carefully analyse the collected information to determine what conditions it would be possible for Robert to return to competition in the upcoming years.”
Another strong performance this time in a more public setting with many of the world’s media likely in attendance will only further add to rumours Renault is considering Kubica for a return as soon as 2018 replacing the current out of form and out of luck Jolyon Palmer, with the Briton yet to score a point this season.
Joining Kubica will be DAMS F2 and Renault development driver Latifi, who recently won the Sunday sprint race at Silverstone in dominant fashion. Other interesting names in attendance will be the runaway championship leader in F2 Charles Leclerc for Ferrari and recent winner in GP3 both in Spielberg and Silverstone, George Russell for Mercedes.
