Grand prix winner Robert Kubica believes his chances of making a return to Formula 1 has risen from 10 to 90% following his succesful test in Valencia.
Kubica tested the E20 in a private test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo last month, multiple sources claim his fastest time was quicker than Renault’s test driver Sergey Sirotkin best effort.
The Polish ace drove Lotus’ 2012 car for the second time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend, and a second private test will follow later this month.
While at the festival, Kubica spoke to Auto Express about his chances of returning to the sport.
“If you asked me how much I was realistically thinking that coming back to F1 was possible [before the test], I would have put myself up to 10% or maximum 20% chance,” Kubica said.
“Because the clock is running – not just the classification, but also [I’m] getting older. F1 is going so fast that some people forget – not everyone, but some.
“Because I’m very realistic, and I’m keeping my feet on the ground, I’d put it at 80 or 90% [now].”
The 32-year-old explained the level of confidence he amassed from the successful test.
“You build up your own question marks, based on how you know yourself and your body, and then if you’d asked me about them after even the first run at Valencia, they were gone, gone, gone, gone,” he added.
“Then it becomes much easier than I thought. This gives you good confidence and puts you in a completely different level – of trying to have a better feeling in the car and better performance.
“Once my comfort, or let’s say limitation things, were gone in three laps, I could concentrate on trying to get back to the proper rhythm. I’m surprised how it felt; it felt for me like I hadn’t driven for one month, not six years.”
Kubica says he wouldn’t return to F1 if he got a call to race tomorrow because he only wants to return when he feels completely ready to make the most of the opportunity.
“I’m not an 18-year-old rookie who wants to get to F1 at any cost. I want to be in F1 if I’m 100% sure I’m capable of doing the job.
“For me there are still a few steps to be done and I will see how I react. But when you get rid of 80% of the doubts you had in one day, it really does give you a fantastic feeling. This is what happened in Valencia.
“I was shocked, to be honest; it was really, really impressive, feeling-wise. I’m not talking about pace there – a few tenths here, a few tenths there – but the feeling and the impression I had, straight away, were amazing.
