Kubica and Monger are true inspirations

WE wrote this time last year about the efforts of Polish driver Robert Kubica to get back on the Formula 1 grid eight years after the horror crash he suffered in 2010.

In the end Kubica’s brave bid to return to the grid fell just short. A poor showing in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi meant he just missed out on the Williams drive he was chasing to Russia’s Sergey Sirotkin.

Formula 1 being Formula 1 money was a factor. The Russian came with reasonably substantial backing, but the fact remained: Sirotkin was simply faster than Kubica in that test. What team boss wouldn’t go with the faster guy who brought more money to the party?

Twelve months on, however, and the fairytale has finally come true. Kubica has used the reserve driver’s role at Williams to press his claim for a race seat and the man whose right hand was mangled and left hanging by its skin will be back on the grid in 2019.

It’s a proper feel-good story, a Disney-movie waiting to happen. Kubica has overcome massive obstacles to get to where he is. Kubica’s aim, of course, isn’t to inspire, it’s simply to race, but by doing so he has shown people what can be achieved despite a physical limitation. He refused to let his define him.

Another man in the same vein is Billy Monger – another racer we’ve written about here before – who has shown nothing but courage after a crash cost him both his legs. His dream today is the same as it was on the day before his accident, to make it to Formula 1.

And after a successful Formula 3 test in Abu Dhabi at the weekend he’s a stop closer to achieving it. He’s a remarkable young man doing remarkable things. Long may it continue.