Spanish Grand Prix – Williams’ Robert Kubica finished last of the classified runners in Sunday’s race in Spain, but says he thought his first race stint was pretty good.
The Polish driver started the race from P18 and made a good getaway on the Medium tyre to overtake his teammate George Russell. He also managed to briefly attack the Racing Point drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll but wasn’t able to get past them.
A brief battle with Russell ensued, with Kubica initially prevailing before Russell came back at him later in the stint.
“I started quite well but was squeezed a bit between both Racing Points, so I had to lift off in the middle of the straight and lost quite a lot of ground there.” explained Kubica. “I then lost a position to George but regained it in turn four. My first stint wasn’t looking too bad but, before he overtook me, I got called to change a few things on the steering wheel and I wasn’t expecting him to be so close. I wasn’t practically ready to defend and by the time I saw him in the mirror, it was too late.”
Kubica eventually trailed home in P18 and around seven seconds behind his teammate, having had to change strategy. Both he and Russell swapped to the Soft tyre at the midpoint of the race, with Kubica making the change on Lap 31. This would have meant a tough ask of 35 laps on the Soft tyre, which Kubica said he was glad to avoid due to the Safety Car allowing an extra stop to put back on the Mediums: “We changed the strategy during the race and I think it was good the Safety Car came out as it actually split our second stint, otherwise it would have been very difficult for us to manage the tyres until the end.”
Kubica’s position at Williams is rumoured to be under threat, with Formula 2 feature race winner Nicholas Latifi linked to his cockpit. Latifi will test the Williams for both days of the in-season test this week.
