F1 return for Kubica eight years after crash

ROBERT KUBICA will return to a Formula One race seat eight years after his right arm was nearly severed in an horrendous rally accident. News that he will drive for Williams next season was confirmed in the paddock ahead of Sunday’s seasonclosing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — and it was met with delight and concern. Delight that one of the star karters of his generation — rated by Lewis Hamilton his greatest boyhood rival — has completed a recovery that has taken every drop of his fortitude since a barrier cut through the middle of his car while he was competing in an extra-curricular rally, the Ronde di Andorra, in Italy in 2011. But concern that the scars the well-liked Pole wore on his right arm during the unveiling will never allow him to perform to the rarefied standard that won him 12 podiums with BMW. Deputy team principal Claire Williams insisted Kubica’s new role was awarded on merit. But many think the promotion, from development and reserve driver, is due to backing. It is said he brings in £9million. ‘I understand it is a story that probably nobody would believe,’ said Kubica. ‘Probably the only one who never gave up hope was me. ‘We all knew it might be unachievable. But this shows nothing is impossible.’ Kubica has changed his driving style, using his left hand more. ‘My medical results for speed and force of the left arm were at least 35-per-cent better than the best they had seen before,’ he added. ‘Somehow your body adapts to reality.’