WHO WILL GIVE KUBICA A CHANCE?
US founding father and 18th-century polymath Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying “out of adversity comes opportunity”, and it’s an adage that Williams are finding applies to their 2018 driver search.
It has been a tough year for Williams as it becomes increasingly clear that the promise of 2014-15, when they finished third in the constructors’ championship for two years running, was in large part due to the huge advantage the Mercedes engine had over its rivals early in the hybrid era, rather than because of any great leap forward in the Williams chassis-design department.
Williams were already aware of this last season, which is why they jumped at the chance to sign Paddy Lowe from Mercedes as chief technical officer last winter. Now Lowe is ensconced as a shareholder and board member, the team are questioning all aspects of their operation. They effectively wrote off development on this year’s car early on after bad breaks in the first few races meant they lost a lot of ground to Force India – and then it became clear the car’s performance meant they were unlikely to catch up.
Better, Williams felt, to focus on changes to car design for 2018, under Lowe and new chief aerodynamicist Dirk de Beer, than chase performance on a flawed design when fourth in the constructors’ standings was already out of reach. So with design of a re-imagined car well under way for 2018, focus shifted to the driver line-up and the realisation that they needed to do better than Felipe Massa as a partner for 18-year-old rookie, Lance Stroll.
Williams are committed to Stroll for two more years, even though the money he pays decreases with each passing season of his contract. The problem is, while there have been flashes of promise, Stroll has generally lagged well behind Massa for pace. At the time of writing, Stroll was on average just over 0.4s a lap off Massa in qualifying, and Williams are well aware that Massa was on average 0.5s slower than Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. At his best, Massa is as fast as anyone, but he’s currently struggling to achieve that level of performance.
In short, Williams are giving away a lot of potential performance on the driver front and are concerned that they cannot get away with that for much longer without it damaging the image, performance, and, therefore, the income of the team. They don’t have a lot of options, but there is one they are very excited about: Robert Kubica.
Renault passed on their former driver, despite three promising tests over the summer, in favour of loaning Carlos Sainz from Red Bull. They felt there were still “unanswered questions” about whether Kubica, 32, was ready to make a return to F1 seven years after the horrific rally accident that left him with only partial movement in his right arm.
But Williams feel that if Kubica can come even close to his previous formidable best, then he might be a very attractive option, not just on track, but in terms of the huge PR boost the team would get from facilitating his much-longed-for return to F1. Subsequently, they have planned two further tests for Kubica, in the gap between the Japanese and US Grands Prix: one at Silverstone and one at the Hungaroring. The idea of the Silverstone test is for Kubica to familiarise himself with a relatively recent (2014) car and the team. Then, in Hungary, reserve driver Paul Di Resta will drive one day as a benchmark and Kubica the other.
Williams are giving little away. Lowe admits the Kubica-di Resta test will happen, but says no information about it will be made public and insists “that doesn’t mean they are the only drivers under consideration – we’re considering quite a large range, of which they are only two possibilities”.
He adds: “Felipe is very much in the frame, very, very high on our list of possibilities, but we owe it to ourselves to take a look around and see what could be the best option for the team going forwards. You’ve probably seen a number of names that are floating around that we’re looking at, but, honestly, the range is almost unlimited.
“FELIPE IS VERY MUCH IN THE FRAME, VERY, VERY HIGH ON OUR LIST OF POSSIBILITIES, BUT WE OWE IT TO OURSELVES TO TAKE A LOOK AROUND… HONESTLY, THE RANGE IS ALMOST UNLIMITED
We will consider all ideas. We’re not in a hurry to do so, and we’ll just make sure we land the best line-up we can.”
The Kubica test is not a ‘shoot-out’ against Di Resta. Di Resta has only a very remote chance of a race seat, even if he comes out on top. Williams feel that his current reserve role is perfect for him, and would prefer to stick with Massa if that was where the choice lay. Insiders say that if Kubica can prove to the team that he is capable of a return, there is a strong possibility he will be signed for 2018. If not, Massa will most likely be retained.
For Kubica, this could be his last chance to make a return. Nico Rosberg, now part of his management team, was at the Japanese GP as a pundit for Sky, and was talking him up, saying the Renault test had proved that he was 100 per cent ready. But that is far from clear. If it were the case, surely Renault would have taken him on – after all, certain members of the team tried very hard to do everything they could to make it happen, given his impressive performance when he used to race for them. But this time they were not convinced it would work.
Renault won’t say why, but it seems they felt Kubica was not quite quick or strong enough to drive in F1 in the current cars. They also didn’t want to be caught without options by leaving things too late and, as Rosberg points out, matters were complicated by the Mclaren-renaulttoro Rosso-honda-sainz mega-deal, which you can read about on p58. Williams, though, can afford to take their time. Massa is keen to stay on and has said that a test in a 2014 car is not sufficient evaluation for Kubica. His chances of staying on depend on whether Williams agree.
Otherwise, Williams’ list is perhaps not as long as Lowe suggests. Pascal Wehrlein might have been considered, but his age – he is 23 in October – is a problem because Williams title sponsor, alcoholic drinks brand Martini, requires at least one of their drivers to be 25. So, in reality, Kubica versus Massa it is.