Last week’s two-day test following the Hungarian Grand Prix may not have meant much to many on the grid, for Robert Kubica though it marked an important milestone in his road back to Formula 1.
It was exactly a year ago that the Pole made his first public appearance in a current generation car with Renault at the Hungaroring, as the French manufacturer weighed him up for a possible seat for this season.
That path would eventually close, but Williams would become his next one and result in his current position as reserve and development driver for the Grove-based team.
Back on track in Budapest last Wednesday, Kubica looked back on the progress he has made over the past 12 months.
“After 12 months I can say everything is easier!” he said. “One year ago everything was new for me, especially with the new generation of F1, and now everything is more familiar, easier and I’m more confident. So all good.”
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His first official role back in the sport hasn’t been easy with Williams struggling at the back of the grid with a flawed car that has created far more headaches than it has happy memories.
“It was all ok. We did have a bit of a mixed program with some data collection for next year, and trying to understand how we can make the car work better for next year’s car,” Kubica explained.
“But we did do a few runs with a current specification car as well. So the feeling was good.”
Part of his program also saw him become one of the first drivers to test the new 2019-spec front wing which is designed to allow drivers to follow much more closely.
“It’s wider and you can feel that,” he said in assessment. “But it’s too early to have a good opinion about it.
“It was a test for our aerodynamic engineers so that they can collect data about how the air flow is affected and so on.”
