Robert Kubica will return to action at a Formula One weekend for the first time since 2010 when he partakes in Free Practice 1 for the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix.
The Polish driver, who suffered life-changing injuries in a rally crash in February 2011, will make three appearances with Williams throughout the season. The first will come at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in May, before two further appearances in Austria and Abu Dhabi.
The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner is looking forward to a full-time return to the paddock as Williams’ test and reserve driver in 2018:
“I’m back in Formula 1 in a different role to when I was racing in 2011, but I’m back permanently in the F1 paddock, so I’m looking forward to it. It will be interesting to go back to some of the places I have been before, some of them providing different emotions from different moments in my life. Sometimes it can be quite difficult watching others racing, but I have a different role this year. It’s sure to be a tough season with a lot of races and things to do. I have to be on top of the work I have to do for the team.”
Kubica is also expected to run for the team at winter testing, which begins in Spain on 26th February. Williams revealed their 2018 car at a launch in London on Thursday.
After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. The blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics. Nicky also writes at F1Destinations, Motorsport Guides and WTF1. In 2017 and 2018, he wrote for Badger GP. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast.