Kubica confesses to 'open wound' after Ferrari F1 dream snatched away

Robert Kubica has admitted that his failure to race for Ferrari in Formula 1 is an "open wound", after agreeing a deal to race for it in the World Endurance Championship. Kubica had signed a pre-contract agreement to join Ferrari for the 2012 F1 season to partner Fernando Alonso, but the severe injuries he sustained in a February 2011 rally accident meant his Grand Prix career was seemingly over. After being granted by the Renault team he drove for in 2010, in mid-2017, Kubica was signed by Williams as reserve and then race driver for 2018 and 2019, respectively, although the FW42 machine was a failure with one-time race winner departing at the end of the year. He then moved to Alfa Romeo as third driver, and deputised for a COVID stricken Kimi Raikkonen at the 2021 Dutch and Italian Grands Prix - before completing a handful of FP1 sessions in 2022. For 2023, Kubica left F1 and signed with Team WRT, and secured the LMP2 class title in the WEC, before agreeing a deal to race a Ferrari 499P for AF Corse in the Hypercar class for the coming season. Whilst Kubica is happy to have signed with Ferrari - he still has the thoughts of what might have been.

Kubica's 'open wound'

"I think that driving a Ferrari represents something different than racing with other brands," Kubica explained to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "In the past I had looked for Ferrari many times. "As an F1 driver, I had two objectives: to win the world championship and get into the red. "It didn’t happen because life served me another scenario, and I confess that an open wound remained. Now this opportunity is a great challenge."