WHAT CAN KUBICA DO ON HIS RETURN TO F1 RACING?

Robert Kubica’s story is a remarkable one. The Pole’s Formula 1 career seemed over after the rally accident that left him severely injured in February 2011, but he battled back. Just lining up for Williams on the Australian Grand Prix grid in March will be an important milestone in Kubica’s long journey of recovery. But what can we expect from Kubica this season? Along with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, Kubica was in the absolute elite of F1 drivers at the time of his crash. To expect him to reach that level again would not be reasonable, but perhaps that’s not the point. As Kubica tells Scott Mitchell in our cover piece (page 12), he’s got his own ideas on what he can do and what would constitute a successful comeback. What anyone else thinks doesn’t bother him. The situation is ideal for Williams’s other driver, rookie George Russell. Kubica has experience operating at the highest level, even if the cars are very different to the normally aspirated V8s of his first F1 career. He will surely be a useful asset to the team as it tries to pick itself up after a torrid 2018. At the same time, Kubica will probably be beatable. Russell has shown all the qualities on the way to F1 to suggest he will succeed, and beating someone of Kubica’s ability – whatever the circumstances – won’t do him any harm. At the same time as looking at the return of one top driver, we also look back at the successes of Michael Schumacher, who is 50 years old today (Thursday). Sadly, the seven-time world champion won’t be celebrating in the way we would all like following his 2013 skiing accident, but we thought it right to mark his half-century by picking out his 10 best F1 victories (p21).

KEVIN TURNER EDITOR kevin.turner@autosport.com