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Formula One
F1: Kubica ‘Proud’ Of 2010 Renault Performance
Robert Kubica is looking forward to the Silverstone course...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted July 05, 2010   Balen (BEL)
Renault used its official Twitter account to make light of a report that Robert Kubica might be leaving for Ferrari next year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Robert Kubica says that he and the Renault team can be proud of their performance so far in 2010, having scored points in every race since his first lap mishap delayed him in Bahrain.

The Pole, who has had two podium finishes, is hoping that the modifications introduced in Valencia will have a greater effect on the fast sweeps of Silverstone.

“I think there are two ways to look at it,” Kubica said in a team statement. “Of course, as a driver you’re always hoping for a winning car but, in reality, myself and the team went to the first race hoping to get into the top 10 in qualifying and we felt this was our potential, after doing a good job to improve the car during winter testing. Until now, we’ve qualified in the top ten at every race, and apart from Bahrain, my worst finish has been seventh. All in all, we can be happy with the job we’ve done.

“Of course, we had more room for improvement in the beginning, but we managed to close the gap to the top teams, and the guys in the factory have worked really hard to keep up the pace of improvements. Now, the last few tenths to the front will be very difficult to find, but I think we can be happy and really proud of what we have achieved so far after starting quite far away. I don’t think anybody was expecting us to achieve these kinds of results.”

Kubica says it’s hard to judge the team’s potential competitiveness race by race.

“A lot of it depends on the circuit characteristics and if you get everything right or not. We were very close to Ferrari in qualifying in Valencia, even though we were not 100% happy about how it went – but I think most people were struggling a bit in qualifying there. In the first stint of the race, I was behind Felipe and we had a slightly slower pace than him, but things might change.

“Mercedes struggled in Valencia, too, and we saw some cars having big ups and downs in performance during the weekend, so it’s very, very difficult to judge. Silverstone has a completely different character to Valencia or even Canada, and the last time we raced at a similar circuit was in Istanbul. Since then, people have made big updates to their cars, including us, so we really will have to wait and see.

“Silverstone is normally quite a tricky place for the set-up and for finding a good balance, because you have a big difference between the low-speed and high-speed corners, and there are not really any medium-speed corners in between. Downforce is a key point and with the changes we made to the car last race, it will be interesting to see if they bring us an advantage in the high-speed stuff. It will be a good test on Friday to see and feel the differences with the new package.”
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Kubica says he’s looking forward to this weekend: “It’s an exciting circuit, a very challenging track, especially the first six or seven corners which are just amazing with current F1 cars. Most of them are nearly flat out, or perhaps even flat – it depends on the wind direction – and as soon as you exit one, you’re into the next one straight away. It’s just amazing how much speed you can carry through them.

“Of course, there is the new section this year, as well, which I’ve seen on the internet and on TV when MotoGP raced there. It looks quite bumpy, and different to the previous version of the circuit, but I think overall that Silverstone is a place where all the drivers are happy to drive, because it really shows 100% of the potential of an F1 car in the high-speed corners.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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