ABU DHABI — Robert Kubica will race for Williams for the 2019 Formula One season, completing his remarkable return to single-seater racing.
Williams confirmed the news on Thursday, meaning Kubica will be back on an F1 grid for the first time since 2010. The Polish driver’s career had been cut short due to injuries he sustained in a rallying accident on the eve of the 2011 season, which had kept him side-lined since.
Hopes of a comeback appeared to have faded until last year when, after multiple surgeries on his right arm, he was able to complete several highly-publicised tests for Renault, the team he had been signed to in 2011, and Williams. He failed to secure a race seat with either team but was kept on with Williams in a testing capacity, competing at two Friday practice session this year in the process.
Kubica, 33, has never given up his goal of returning to a race seat. He admits to still having physical limiations from his 2011 crash, although he has learned how to drive around them. He has done enough to convince Williams he can still race competitively and next year he will partner a rookie driver, newly-crowned Formula Two champion George Russell.
More to follow…