F1 redemption tale steals the thunder

DANIEL Ricciardo will be making his debut for a new team and defending champion Lewis Hamilton starts his campaign for a sixth world title.

And there’s a new young gun in the famous Ferrari red.

But none of those really come close to the best story on the grid at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Enter Robert Kubica and his remarkable return to Formula One, which easily has a place among sport’s great comeback tales.

The 34-year-old Polish driver, who will race for Williams in 2019, will make his return to the sport eight years after a serious rally accident that could have killed him.

Kubica suffered a partially severed right arm, among other injuries, after crashing into a barrier while driving in a rally in Italy in 2011.

Operations, a lengthy hospital stay and rehabilitation followed, putting in doubt Kubica’s future racing career.

“It has been a challenging journey to make it back to the Formula One grid, but what seemed almost impossible is now beginning to feel possible,” Kubica said. “For sure, it has been a long road to get to this point ... being back on the F1 grid will be one of the greatest achievements of my life.’’

Former Australian Formula One star Mark Webber remembered visiting Kubica in the hospital after the accident and described his comeback as “uniquely special”.

“I was at his hospital bedside about a week or so after the accident and I just couldn’t believe my eyes,’’ Webber said.

“We were hoping that, first of all, he was going to survive, which he did, but the injuries that his body went through, the brutality that his limbs took, it’s just staggering that he came out of it the way that he did. Then he just had this mental resolve and steely determination to drive again ... he has come back from a life or death situation and he is back in Formula One.

“He is obviously going to be towards the back because of the package he is in, but all of us drivers have the utmost respect for Robert.”

Kubica has said that he has had to adapt has driving style after the injuries.

“I have been … in school where they give you a bird in the hand and you have to hold it (so) that it doesn’t fly away but you cannot hold it too much that it gets scared,” he said. “This is the way you have to hold the steering wheel.”

BEING BACK ON THE F1 GRID WILL BE ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF MY LIFE ROBERT KUBICA