What happened to Formula 1's 'greatest lost talent' that everyone tipped to win the world title
Robert Kubica, the only Polish driver in Formula 1 history, made his first appearance in 2006 with BMW Sauber, then went on to win the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix - the sole victory of his career.
In 2019, Lewis Hamilton - who started racing karts together with Kubica in 1997 - described his friend and competitor as “one of the most talented drivers” he’d ever faced off against.
That year, the Pole made a brief return to Formula 1 after being announced as a Williams race driver for the season, which did not last beyond 2019 despite scoring the team's only point of the campaign by finishing 10th in Germany.
His return came years after a horror rally crash in 2011 that almost claimed the now 41-year-old’s life, causing Kubica — who received insurance payouts for loss of future earnings - to suffer partial amputation to his forearm, amongst other injuries.
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Ted Kravitz, Formula 1 reporter and expert, described Kubica in his book 'F1 Insider' as “the greatest lost talent” the sport had ever seen - an incredibly quick driver that almost moved to Ferrari before his rally crash.
On the rumours of this move, Kravitz wrote: “Ferrari appreciated how good he was and, encouraged by Fernando Alonso, offered Kubica a provisional race contract to give the Maranello squad the first call on his services for the 2012 season.
“All he had to do was see out one more year in a midfield Renault and he’d likely to move to Ferrari,” continued Kravitz.
The Pole, whose 2019 return came after being told he would never race as a Formula 1 driver again, believed that he could challenge Fernando Alonso at Ferrari prior to his crash, despite the Spaniard performing as one of the world’s very best at the time.
And when Ayao Komatsu, team principal of Haas, was an engineer at Renault, he saw enough in Kubica to declare him a future world champion, provided he was in the right car.
The 41-year-old perhaps proved those predictions for his career right – and predictions that he’d never race again wrong — by winning the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari, their third successive win in the endurance race.
Kubica became the first Polish driver ever to win overall at Le Mans 24, alongside teammate Ye Yifei, who also became China's first champion.
That victory has since been described by many as one of sport’s finest ever comeback stories, and a major redemption for Kubica’s career, but fans of the Polish driver will forever wonder what could have been.
Kedar Bayley